Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, an animal lover, decided she wanted to adopt a dog back in September. She she went to a private animal rescue service and adopted a black Brussels Griffon terrier mix named Iggy.

She spent $3,000, she says, getting the dog neutered — something most pet adoption agencies have already done before a dog is ever allowed to be adopted — and getting it trained so that it would get along with her cats. Apparently, the training didn’t work and the dogs and cats just couldn’t get along.

She then proceeded to give the dog to her hairdresser, who has two small children who fell in love with Iggy.

When the rescue group called to check on the dog they had placed, as rescue groups are prone to do, DeGeneres says she fessed up, admitting that the dog didn’t work out and that she had given it to another family. Honesty is the best policy, as she implied as she tearfully told the story on her show. However, that action happened to be in violation of the agreement the rescue group required DeGeneres and her partner to sign, and to make a long story short, the rescue group took the dog from the family.

On her show this past Monday, she sobbed — literally sobbed — as she described the situation.

She begged the rescue group to have a heart and return the dog to the loving family.

She apologized for doing the wrong thing and said that the family shouldn’t be punished for her mistake.

She did a nice job of vilifying an agency that is designed to do good things for animals and for people who follow specific rules they have in place.

She did the wrong thing. Twice.

I don’t condemn her at all for working with an animal rescue group. I’ve volunteered with one in the past, the same one from which I adopted one of my dogs. For one thing, every rescue group I’ve ever heard of makes it very clear that if something doesn’t work out with the placement, the animal must be returned to them. It makes sense when you think about it: the group is working to find the best home it possibly can for animals that have sometimes been in unimaginable situations. They take that role very seriously, as well they should.

But the clause about returning the dog was in the agreement that DeGeneres’s partner signed. I can’t imagine that the group didn’t come right out and say that the dog would have to come back to them if things don’t work out. She should have called the group immediately; she should have said that she had a family willing to take the dog and have the group meet with them while the dog was still in her custody, rather than making the decision and never bothering to tell the group until they called for their follow-up.

Sure, DeGeneres did the “right thing” by admitting what she’d done. But she did the wrong thing by taking it upon herself to make that decision without letting the group know.

When the rescue group indicated that it would place the dog with another family they had pre-screened, the attention DeGeneres focused on them led to death and arson threats. So on a later show this week, she said she was no longer going to talk about the situation and appealed to her audience not to participate in any kind of threat against the group.

If yours was the family that happened to be second in line for Iggy, and you had children who had fallen in love with the dog, and would accept no other, as had happened with the family DeGeneres gave Iggy to, you’d probably be a little angry that someone could have “cut” in front of your kids. And it’s always possible that the group did talk to the family DeGeneres had selected, and decided for some reason that they weren’t right for Iggy.

I’m sure that if she had used her celebrity position to reason with the group and offer a substantial donation, more than the $400 she said she slipped them when she adopted Iggy, they might have been more likely to at least consider “bending” their rules. She could certainly have tried to make the situation better that way rather than portraying them as heartless, child-hating people.

In follow-up statement, she said it was “all about the dog.” For the rescue group, I’m sure it was. But for DeGeneres, considering the way she chose to handle things, it sure seems like it was more about her getting her way, and about that family getting Iggy.

Want to do something about it? Why not donate to one of your local animal rescue groups! Given the bad press this one has received, I’m sure any group would like to know that people don’t think they’re the bad guys.