DeGeneres' Dog Debacle

For goodness sake-let that family keep Iggy! Perhaps domesticating animals was wrong. From the beginning we were taking wolves and making them into guard dogs and companions. Then we did it to cats too. And now you can buy lizards, fish, guinea pigs, gerbils, etc. and keep them as "pets." But it is a done deed-humans like the animal companionship, and there are millions of animals out there that need good homes.

So why should it be wrong for someone to adopt an animal with the intentions of giving it a good home if that home turns out not to be their home but someone else's home? The intention was fulfilled. The animal has a good home. They are no longer confined in a cage with the possibility of getting euthanized if no one adopts them. These shelters have rules to weed out unsuitable people, I get that, but can they not take each case on its own merit?

Ultimately, it is in the animals' best interests if Mutts and Moms can find as many good homes for them as possible. So even if they have an arbitrary rule that says small dogs cannot go to homes with children under 14, would it not be better for them to use it as a general guideline, but if a home with children under 14 is suitable for a small dog and they are one big happy family, then let that family adopt the dog. Everybody wins in that situation-the family, the shelter and best of all-the dog. Isn't that ultimately what shelters are seeking to do? To find good, loving homes for their animals.

Mutts and Moms have not only done Iggy a huge disservice by yanking it out of a good home. They have also traumatized a family, and I believe, really hurt their cause in finding good homes for animals. Who will adopt pets from them now that they seem fanatical and irrational? And further, I believe that they might frighten people from adopting animals in general, from any shelter/rescue group, for fear that any slight infraction of the rules could cause the shelter/rescue group to come to their homes and take the animal away. If they can do it to Ellen DeGeneres, then they can certainly do it to you.

If you want to read the news story, check out MSNBC.