Power Lounger,
I do understand your point and agree with you in many ways. However, I think Pupper-Lover said it very well. It's hard to understand why someone would pay so much money, often 2 or 3 x what a shelter animal costs to get a purebred puppy. One walk through the shelter will break your heart and maybe change the minds of some of these people. There is very often purebred dogs at these shelters too. For example, in a shelter near here, there is a Cane Corso Mastiff that the owners turned in. These dogs can cost well over a $1000 apiece and are hard to find, at least in this area. When I adopted Duncan, there was a purebred bassett hound in the cage next to him, another rare and expensive breed.
The problem, I feel, however, doesn't lie with most responsible breeders. It lies with the "ordinary" pet owner who either spends the money on the purebred or gets one from their neighbor's dog that had puppies for the 5th time and then they proceed to keep this dog in the backyard, maybe tied to a doghouse, maybe loose in the 4 foot-high fenced yard. And they don't spay or neuter this dog, their "beloved family pet" that they keep chained to the garage like a wild animal!! . And then it jumps the fence or another dog jumps the fence...Or it escapes from their collar and chain and if it comes home at all, it comes home pregnant or after having impregnanted all the dogs within 10 miles.

There is absolutely NO REASON for any person that is NOT a licensed, professional breeder, to have a dog that is not neutered or spayed. No reason whatsoever.

There are many purebred dog breeds that I would love love love to own, like a Great Pyrnees or a Bernese Mountain Dog. Or a beautiful regal German Shepherd....I could go on and on...And maybe someday I will come across one of these dogs that needs a home and will be fortunate enough to be able to take them....But until then I will continue my one-woman crusade to spay and neuter, spay and neuter, spay and neuter....