Follow-up to Animal Abuse and Neglect Post

I just wanted to talk briefly about the whole Ellen Degeneres deal.  If you haven’t heard about it, this is the story:  Ellen adopted a dog from the agency Mutts and Moms (which is a non-profit dog rescue agency).  After adopting Iggy (the dog’s name), it was discovered that he did not get along with the cats currently living in Ellen’s home.  Ellen decided to give the dog to a friend of hers (who has 2 young girls who ended up loving Iggy after having him in their home for just 2 weeks), which resulted in the agency taking the dog back.

Why did the agency take the dog back?  Well, Ellen signed a contract with the agency stating that she would be the owner of the dog.  After giving the dog away and not informing the agency, Ellen voided the contract and the agency was well within it’s limits to take the dog back.

What could Ellen have done to avoid this mess?  She gave it away because the dog did not get along with the cats already living in her home.   What she should have done before even considering adopting was bring the dog for a visit to see how he interacted with her cats.  If you do this beforehand, that eliminates the whole huge problem that it has now become.

Ellen canceled a taping of her show yesterday after a tearful plea earlier this week to the agency.  She was begging the agency to return the dog to her friend’s.  The agency has refused to do that stating that they will not be bullied by Ellen in any way.

What can we learn from this?  READ ALL CONTRACTS CAREFULLY!!  If you are unsure of the wording, have a lawyer go over it and explain it to you.  Be sure you completely understand what you are signing and if you don’t understand – ASK QUESTIONS!! 

Just take your time, if Ellen had read the contract, she would have understood the consequences of giving the dog away.  She just did not do the right thing, and now Iggy and the two little girls who enjoyed his company for a 2 week stay are suffering.

Thanks for reading!  As always your participation in comments and discussions is encouraged and greatly appreciated!! 

This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 02:29 pm and is filed under PetStrong. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.