DeGeneres under fire from pet agency

Ellen DeGeneres has been slammed by a pet rescue agency after she gave away a dog that she had adopted.

The comedienne and her girlfriend Portia de Rossi adopted a Brussels Griffon mix called Iggy last month, but when he did not get along with her cats she gave him away to her hairdresser.

It means that DeGeneres violated the terms of the adoption with the Mutts and Mums company, because she had made an agreement to let them know if the dog moved on to a different home.

A representative was sent to her hairdresser's house at the weekend to reclaim Iggy, after the talk show host revealed what she had done on her programme and admitted that she had not read all of the paperwork properly.

DeGeneres submitted a transcript to the Associated Press, saying: "I guess I signed a piece of paper that says if I can't keep Iggy, it goes back to the rescue organisation, which is not someone's home, which is not a family. I thought I did a good thing. I tried to find a loving home for the dog because I couldn't keep it."

She also added that her hairdresser's children had bonded with her dog and she has begged them to give Iggy back to the family.