Against the Demonization of Supporters of Ethical Dog Breeders
When anybody I know is thinking of adopting a dog, most folks urge them to adopt from a shelter / rescue instead of buying a dog from an ethical dog breeder.
I would like to bring some nuance to the conversation.
Let’s define ethical. A breeder who is selecting for traits that are beneficial to the dog, treats their animals well, is knowledgeable about the breeds’ specific health issues and works to minimize them, and screens the families for being able to care for the dog, to me is ethical. They work to ensure the match is a good fit that brings happiness to both of their lives.
Adopting from these breeders is not the same leaving a dog in a shelter to die.
The people who adopt dogs from ethical breeders are as guilty as the people who adopt no dogs at all (which is, not at all). They are not contributing to the problem of having overpopulated dog shelters. Most states have regulations requiring dogs to be spayed/neutered (1, 2, 3) and any ethical breeder should require this.
When you adopt from a good breeder, you are supporting that business and as a result may help get more families happy, healthy dogs.
Many ethical dog breeders seek to improve the breed over time, and this has an outsized impact on the future availability of dogs that exist safely and happily in modern society. Doubly so if the breed in question is a working breed (4).
Without this industry, there would still be people breeding dogs, but in a less regulated manner and that would result in worse outcomes (fewer health checks / vaccinations, less transparency around the heritage, less accountability for the breeders).
The regulations for dog breeding are quite stringent, although it looks like the regulations don’t have any teeth (atleast as of 2010 (5) ) - I am all for increased regulation and introducing more oversight such that breeders are disincentivized from skirting the regulations. For now, though, supporting and destigmatizing the responsible breeding businesses is a good thing.
You might be thinking that there aren’t very many breeders who be considered ethical as it is laid out here. And that may be true. That is why it is very important to be scrupulous if you do decide to go this route.
Inviting a dog into your life and being its primary caretaker can be a very important commitment, and many would-be dog owners renege on their commitment, and the vast majority do so because of behavioral issues (6). Knowing the breed history, temperament of the parents, and the conditions in which the dog has grown up can help lessen the uncertainty surrounding this decision, and may result in fewer returns (which is both good for shelter populations and for the individual dogs that now do not have to go through a potentially traumatic separation).
I do think that adopting from a shelter can result in gaining a wonderful companion and is a good deed, given it working out. But that does not mean that adopting from an ethical dog breeder is a bad deed.