Gogglebox's Ellie Warner has responded to furious fans' claims of 'animal abuse' after she was seen brushing her dog to one side.
Ellie was onscreen with her sister Izzi and their Italian Greyhound Mick; as the pair were tucking into some food, Ellie accidentally knocked a portion of baked beans on herself, standing and looking for somewhere to put her plate down, Ellie said: "I don't care, it's burning me!" Before plonking the plate on a stool in front of her.
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Six-month-old Mick rushed over, seemingly to get a better look at the food, and Ellie swept the dog away with her hand. Mick then appeared to hit the deck and it was this interaction that prompted viewers to respond with fury.
Taking to Twitter, one viewer vented: "I watch and love this show every week but that duo are being way too harsh with that pup!"
Another wrote: "Silly cow, needs that dog taking off her immediately treating it like that because of a bit of food on her leg."
While a third added: "It doesn't matter that the stool was a foot from the floor should not have been pushed. Corrected and trained properly. Perhaps take a class or two, you can teach him, not punish. Reward him with a treat."
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Another tagged the official RSCPA account in the tweet, which responded to the post, writing: "This is sad to see, it's unnecessary to push a dog away like that. We only advocate the use of positive reinforcement training, as opposed to punishing bad behaviour in dogs."
In response to the back lash, Ellie tweeted to say: "Sorry everyone was scolded by burning hot beans, the foot stool is literally a foot from the floor, so Mick was not hurt. I love my dog and would never hurt him. And I also would not let him eat Kentucky fried chicken as it is not suitable food for dogs."
In response to one commenter, she replied: "Thank you for your comment and under normal circumstances that would have been appropriate but considering I was being scalded that was what I had time for in that particular moment, mick is not hurt and is a very happy dog. Have a nice weekend."
Featured Image Credit: Channel 4Topics: TV and Film, gogglebox, Animals