Adopt or Buy?

I got into a heated discussion with my brother and sister-in-law on Sunday regarding pure-bred dogs. We were talking about buying dogs, and my thought is that I'd NEVER buy a dog, because there are thousands of abandoned dogs in MA that need a good home. It may take some time to find one that fits your particular requirements, but they are out there. I can see how someone would want a particular dog because of it's breed, size, intelligence, etc...but I don't think that these are requirements that can't be met with an adopted dog. Which leads me to our argument: I believe that money is the major motivation for all dog breeders. HTE&H believe that the majority of breeders do it because "they love the breed/dogs". Their arguments were that:

1) MOST pure-bred breeders are honest about the dogs, and want you to be a responsible dog owner.

2) Dog breeders are selective about who they sell their dogs to, thus self-limiting their market, consequently limiting their income (as opposed to "Puppy Mills", who'll sell to anyone).

3) Dog breeding is not a lucrative business. If a specific breed can only make 4 puppies per year, then depending on breed, they can get somewhere between 2-8k oer year (rough estimate)

4) Money is the not the driving factor for pure-bred breeders.: the love of the dog is the primary motivation.

I obviously agree with #1; most breeders probably wouldn't want to hand their dogs off to a guy wielding a burlap sack and shovel, OK? But it's a seller market!! The abundance of buyers can create the illusion that the breeder is being caring and responsible, but #2 is really just a function of the marketplace. They can afford to be selective because they know that they can always sell their product to responsible, happy customers, and consequently prolong their breeding career by building a good reputation. How many professional breeder have you met that have an overstock of last year's (and the year before's) puppies?? Probably not too many (they can always "get rid" of their merchandise, right). Oh, and since when is 2-8k a year NOT a lucrative little side business? Compound that money over a 20 year period, and you've got yourself a nice little 401k, no?

Which bring us to #4, the point of this post: Is money the driving factor, or is it purely a golden lining to their desire to proliferate a specific breed? I'd agree that most breeders love their breed, but the ability to make money is still truly the deciding factor. Show me that there's a large percentage of dog breeders who love their dogs AND lose money and I'll admit that I'm wrong. Don't misunderstand me, there are probably breeders that do lose money, but all I'm saying is that they are a very small percentage of the overall population. If I wanted to breed Andy (my adopted mutt), I'd be sure to make sure that endeavor wouldn't send me straight to the poor house before doing so...money is always the driving variable in a business-related equation. I digress...We don't have stats and percentages, so nothing is provable...it's all hearsay. If you believe that money is not the driving factor behind dog breeding, then I suggest that you get your rose-colored prescription lenses changed. If they don't make money, they don't breed dogs (unless they're extremely poor business-people). EOS.