Ellen DeGeneres was on the verge of a breakdown during her talk show yesterday while explaining the trouble she’s having with a pet adoption agency over the fate of a little puppy.

"Today is a hard day for me . . ." the comedian sniffed before breaking down in tears. "I am not capable of coming out and pretending to be funny when things are going so terribly wrong right now."

Teary eyed, Ellen began her story about how she became the focus of a scandal after adopting Iggy, a Brussels Griffon mix, last month, from an adopting agency in the area, and then giving it away to her hairdresser because it didn’t get along with her cats. The controversy started when the adoption agency called asking about the dog and finding out she had given it away to what Ellen trusts to be a loving family who was just looking for a puppy.

Adoption agency Mutts and Moms took the doggie away immediately which led to Ellen’s emotional speech yesterday, apologizing and begging the agency to take Iggy back to her hairdresser and her two daughters, ages 11 and 12.

"I feel totally responsible for it, and I'm so sorry. I'm begging them to give that dog back to that family. It's not their fault. It's my fault. I shouldn't have given the dog away," she pleaded. "Just please give the dog back to those little girls."

"I guess I signed a piece of paper that says if I can't keep Iggy, it goes back to the rescue organization, 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," Ellen said acknowledging she had violated the terms of the adoption with Mutts and Moms which obliged her to let them know if the dog moved to a different home.

However, rules are made to be followed, a spokesperson for the agency was quoted by E!Online as saying, adding that Mutts and Moms won’t be returning the dog, despite the fact that the owners of the agency became the target of death and arson threats and calls for a boycott since Ellen’s show aired.

"[Batkis] doesn't think this is the type of family that should have the dog," attorney Keith A. Fink was quoted by E!Online as saying. "She is adamant that she is not going to be bullied around by the Ellen DeGenereses of the world…They are using their power, position and wealth to try to get what it is they want."

The company’s policy is strictly forbidding families with kids under 14 to adopt puppies.

"She was wrong by not reading the agreement," Ellen’s publicist Kelly Bush told the Associated Press. "She thought she was doing a good thing. She's notorious for rescuing animals and finding them good homes. She found the dog a wonderful, wonderful home."