I agree... honestly I don't think the general dog owning public, just your average dog owner has any clue about 1.) The pet overpopulation problem or 2.) the difference between a reputable/ethical breeder vs. an irrisponsible/unethical breeder...

A few examples...

--A month or so ago a friend of mines mom bought a Goldendoodle from a breeder, after the BC she got from a rescue didn't work out -- I knew it wouldn't work out, she couldn't give the dog the time and exercise she needed. So she got a goldendoodle. The first time I saw her they asked me what I though and I said "She's cute.... please don't tell me you got her from a "breeder"? Of course she did, and she didn't understand why they shouldn't have gotten one from a breeder..... even though I told her she could have gone to the shelter and gotten one for $60.... they didn't care how much the dog cost.. they just wanted this puppy.

When I worked at a vet clinic up in that area, we had a pet store owner that brought the puppies in to our clinic to be examined/vaccinated...etc.. most of what he sold these mixbreed dogs that were sold for somewhere between $1200 and $2000.. and people ACTUALLY paid this for a mixbreed pet store puppy.... and 9 times out of 10 within a week or two after getting the puppy from this store they would show up at our clinic with very sick puppies needing expensive treatment.....

-- Then we have a couple that I do flyball with, with a CUTE little maltese/poodle mix who I didnt know this until recently, they actually bred this dog themselves.... they know I recently had a litter and told me they were considering breeding their maltese/poodle mix with their japanese chin, for no other reason than they think the puppies would be cute. Once the lady asked me if I did anything else, or just raised dogs.... at first I didn't understand what she was talking about LOL I thought at first she asked if I breed any breed besides Collies LOL but then it clicked what she was asking.... and I was like "Oh no... this litter I have now is the first litter I've had in almsot 2yrs" LOL I don't think they realize how expensive it is to actually breed the right way!!....

-- Then most recently I got an e-mail from a lady that said she was looking for a Collie, with full registration to keep intact.. and asked me what my prices were. To start off this e-mail was a huge red flag... but I was curious what her intentions were, so I wrote her back and told her to answer her question I needed to know what she was looking for... and what her plans were for the dog..

So she wrote back and said she was looking to get both a male and female at some point, and mainly wanted a pet and best friend for her kids... but wanted the option to breed it in the future...

I wrote her back and told her I agreed, Collies make excellent pets for kids... however I could not ethically sell a dog and would not sell a dog from my breeding, with my name on him to a pet home and allow him to be bred to some random collie "down the road" for the sole purpose of creating more pets. I told her there were many many Collies in rescue and shelters that would make excellent family pets that there was absolutely no reason to breed a dog just to make more pets. I told her I've had Collies for almost 14yrs and worked hard at getting healthy, happy, quality dogs and I wouldn't allow one of my dogs to be bred to some random (probably badly bred) collie just to make more pets... and I told her any reputable breeder would tell her the same.. if she found a breeder who would let her do what she wants, I would run as fast as I could from that breeder because they dont' care about their dogs....

She wrote back and said she understood and I talked to her for a few more e-mails.. she claimed she was still interested in a collie from me and would neuter the dog... so I wrote her and asked her if she had any objection to me neutering the dog prior to leaving..... LOL never heard from her.. apparently she thought she was going to pull something over on me... lol I'm quicker than that LOL.... I've delt with crazy people like this for years...