Should Ellen Degeneres Have the Rights to Iggy?

Ok- so who's dog is it anyway? Ellen Degeneres? Her hairdresser? Or Moms and Mutts?

Look at it this way- Ellen and her girlfriend Portia De Rossi adopted Iggy, brought him home, and decided to make him a part of their family. They loved him, fed him, made sure he was fixed and got all his shots, and just took care of him. He was their dog. They did everything they could to integrate him into their home, but then a problem came up- Iggy didn't get along with their cats.

I have 5 dogs, a cat, and a turtle. I know that if your animals don't get along, the whole family is going to be miserable. It doesn't mean that you failed as a pet owner, or that you did anything wrong. It just means your plans aren't going to run as smoothly as you would like. That's what happened to Ellen and Portia.

They realized the dog and their cats weren't going to live happily ever after, and decided to do what was best for all the animals- separate them. But at this point, they considered Iggy their dog, they had taken care of him, and of course they didn't want to take him back to the animal rescue they had gotten him from. Iggy is a dog after all, not a defective toy somebody picked up at Wal-Mart. So, Ellen and Portia did what they thought was right, and found another home for Iggy.

Yes, another home. A home with another dog, children, everything a dog could love. Sounds like a happily ever after to me, right? Wrong. When adopting Iggy, Ellen had signed a contract saying that if she couldn't take care of the dog for any reason, she would return him to the animal rescue. Whether she was aware of that or not, that was the contract she signed. It's a shame really, that Ellen was required to return the dog. After all, isn't that the ultimate point of animal rescue?? To find the animal a loving, safe home?

The thing is, there is no clear black and white on this issue. My heart immediately says, let Iggy go back home. But, Ellen did sign a contract. Sure, it looks like she did place Iggy in a safe home, but what if she hadn't?? The contract is ultimately in place to protect the animals.

This reminds me of the Bible tale about cutting the child in half. There is no way to make everyone happy in this story, because it is just a sad situation. Hopefully, everyone has learned something from this story. I just hope that the home Iggy is in now is a loving, happy home, and he comes out the winner in all of this.