The dog in the lap thing happens all over. It makes me want to punch those people...
As for the shelters vs breeders thing... boy is that a hot topic. What's funny is that I work for an animal shelter. A fairly large majority of the people I work with breed, show, work and otherwise enjoy purebred dogs. The shelter manager and his wife breed and show borzois and they are dog show judges, one of the officers breeds and shows cairns, one office coworker of mine has 2 german shepherds, another has 2 dobermans, and one coworker has mini aussies and used to show and breed them. And yet we do have a close up understanding of the pet overpopulation problem and we do get handed every single unwanted, abused, sad case dog. I'd say over 90% of whom are poorly bred, undersocialized and have bad habits and no training at all. No wonder mommy and daddy never came looking. Purebred dog or mutt dog. It doesn't matter. I believe in rescue, but just like doing foster work with children not everybody was made to be a rescue owner. Sometimes it is best to start at the beginning with a puppy and have complete control- especially if you intend on showing/breeding/etc. When I get a dog I really want a blue merle cardigan corgi- I would like to do agility or herding with the dog. That is not a dog I am going to find in a shelter. But, I am also going to try to find the best breeder I can who does the most testing and can ensure to a point the health of the dog. As opposed to the "My dog is really cute and your dog is really cute! Lets breed them!" theory of dog breeding. Especially with Fifi and Fido are poorly tempered, unhealthy, horrible specimens of their breed. Conformation counts for a lot in dog breeding, along with OFA hips and elbows, proper prenatal care... etc. But all people see are "My blue pitbull is gonna have 10 pups! I can sell those for $200 and make a bunch of money!" rawr! I could go on and on....
In short: If you're going to breed- do something to improve the breed. DO consider shelters and rescues if you're not breed specific. There can be lovely animals up for adoption. :)
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As for the shelters vs breeders thing... boy is that a hot topic. What's funny is that I work for an animal shelter. A fairly large majority of the people I work with breed, show, work and otherwise enjoy purebred dogs. The shelter manager and his wife breed and show borzois and they are dog show judges, one of the officers breeds and shows cairns, one office coworker of mine has 2 german shepherds, another has 2 dobermans, and one coworker has mini aussies and used to show and breed them. And yet we do have a close up understanding of the pet overpopulation problem and we do get handed every single unwanted, abused, sad case dog. I'd say over 90% of whom are poorly bred, undersocialized and have bad habits and no training at all. No wonder mommy and daddy never came looking. Purebred dog or mutt dog. It doesn't matter.
I believe in rescue, but just like doing foster work with children not everybody was made to be a rescue owner. Sometimes it is best to start at the beginning with a puppy and have complete control- especially if you intend on showing/breeding/etc. When I get a dog I really want a blue merle cardigan corgi- I would like to do agility or herding with the dog. That is not a dog I am going to find in a shelter. But, I am also going to try to find the best breeder I can who does the most testing and can ensure to a point the health of the dog. As opposed to the "My dog is really cute and your dog is really cute! Lets breed them!" theory of dog breeding. Especially with Fifi and Fido are poorly tempered, unhealthy, horrible specimens of their breed. Conformation counts for a lot in dog breeding, along with OFA hips and elbows, proper prenatal care... etc. But all people see are "My blue pitbull is gonna have 10 pups! I can sell those for $200 and make a bunch of money!" rawr! I could go on and on....
In short: If you're going to breed- do something to improve the breed. DO consider shelters and rescues if you're not breed specific. There can be lovely animals up for adoption. :)