eighthdoctor
Er, gonna have to disagree with you on that. I've done some digging and only HSUS (which is very biased) claims "millions" of dogs are killed in shelters--a shelter survey from 2016(?) found it's more like a couple hundred thousand, which is still horrible don't get me wrong. But what if I don't want a 2 year old with behavior issues? What if I want a service dog who doesn't have a 99 in 100 chance of needing to be washed? What if I want to support a rare breed?
The breeders I'm eyeing breed for work first, temperament second, and appearance third (if at all). All of their dogs go to loving homes and are under contract never to end up in a rescue or shelter.
I will end up with rescue dogs. But I will also get dogs from breeders, because I intend to work my dogs and that means I need the reliability that comes with a responsibly bred dog.
Service dogs are another conversation, though there are plenty of service dogs (and working dogs, by which I mean bomb sniffing, police dogs, etc(well and like herding I guess)) that are found in shelters. but yes obviously that would be an acceptable circumstance.
I don’t really see why it is necessary to support a rare breed? It’s not like a wild species that is part of an ecosystem going extinct, it is a dog that humans bred to serve a specific purpose, a purpose that it likely is no longer needed for. I dunno.
There are a multitude of puppies in shelters, and the breed/breeds is known for many of them. but I will make the argument I have made many a time to my sister, who randomly decided to get an obscure breed from a breeder when she used to advocate so strongly for adopt don’t shop, that it takes just as much (if not more) work to raise a puppy than to train what are most often fairly minor behavioral issues out of an adult dog. also getting even a specific puppy of a specific breed with specific heritage is in no way a guarantee that it won’t have weird quirks or behavior problems that you’ll have to work with.
In short, if you need a working dog or a service dog than yes by all means get whatever specific breed you need, so long it is from a reputable breeder who works only to better the behavior, health, longevity, etc of that breed (and arguably those who breed dog types with health issues related to their appearance should be trying to breed that out of them, ie: brachycephalic dog and those with back problems like corgis and dachshunds)(not that those breeds are used for working or service these days anyway)(but ya the breeders you’re looking at sound great)
also, even if *only* hundreds of thousands are killed in shelters, the rest end up living in a concrete pen for possibly years on end. sometimes I check back in to see what dogs are at the greyhound rescue where I volunteered over three years ago now, and some of the same dogs are still there. the shelters do the best they can but it is still no life to live for a dog.