Neutering a dog is expensive---many folks flat will not do it and do not care about a problem they cannot see----as evidenced by your shock.

There are millions of dogs running loose---some are owned but neglected and some are just loose, no owner.

I have had dogs most of my life and never paid for a dog---and have had papered dogs. Have had good dogs and soso dogs. The owner has more to do with how well a dog behaves than the breeding.

One of our best dogs was found in the desert in New Mexico, by our eldest son when 4wheeling. The pup simply ran out of the scrub and jumped into his truck.

Our current guard dog was rescued from the family who had him and could not handle him. The local police were getting a court order to seize the out of control dog and euthanize him. He is just fine now---the daughter of the former owener cannot believe the change in him.

We let him pick his pack mate---he picked a shelter dog who was too scared to move. She is doing much better now---I got a lot of hints from Cesar about rehabilitating her.

Best thing you can do is go to the shelters and find a dog who like you and you like it---and then adopt it---or two----and provide a good home.

Dogs can overcome bad times much better than people, their memory is not nearly as long for bad times. Health issues are worse for purebred dogs as a whole---breeders have screwed up a lot of breeds by selective breeding. Find out the basic problem areas for the breeds in which you are interested and that will help in selection.

I think I have given up on shelters and rescues. In the past 6 weeks I have gone to 4 different shelters, some more than once and several rescue events.

All they seem to have are really big dogs and dogs that are not recommended for children. The last straw was the shelter on Saturday. They had maybe 25 dogs. Only one dog would even be considered for us, because we have a child under 8. The rescues don't want to adopt to us either. They won't adopt a "small" dog (under 25 lbs) because our dd could hurt it and they won't adopt a bigger dog because it could knock her down.

Smaller dogs seem to be in demand around here. I have heard of several shelters and rescues, shipping them in from out of state.

I would be nervous about adopting from a shelter because I wouldn't feel I'd get a reliable history about the dog. As an example, I know a girl that has a shelter dog and the dog started biting after it settled into the home. Some people are prepared to go the extra mile for health/behavior problems and some are not.

We have an influx of animals seeking homes in our area due to the economy. People are needing to re-home their pets because they are being forced to move to a pet-unfriendly apartment. The apartment classifieds I've read seem to be more tolerant of cats but dogs are another story.

We have clinics that offer low cost spay/neutering but not everyone takes advantage of those. It's either still cost prohibitive, inconvenient, or they are just plain irresponsible.

If I was looking for a particular breed, I'd look to a rescue organization that had the animal in a foster care environment and could give me an honest assessment of the animal.

I wouldn't be opposed to adopting outright from someone needing to re-home their own animal, either. You'd have the opportunity to get to know the animal first and see what their home environment and owners are like. Not to mention the stress reduction for the animal not to have to be in a shelter situation at all.

We got our last 4 dogs through breed rescue groups, and 3 were given up by owners for behavior/owner convenience issues--great dogs btw--and the other was found runing loose in the woods with 5 other dogs.
Talking to my Vet, he said there are a lot of people just letting their dogs loose when they're foreclosed on, we're in metro Detroit,and have been hit with a lot of foreclosures. He was surprised at how much animal abandonment has increased the last couple of years.

We think our 'woods boy' (we call him Forrest) was a breeder's dog and something happened-foreclosure, out of business, whatever. The rescue lady said there was a dog shelter just down the road from the woods they were let go in. Just tie them to the door at night, it would be kinder for everyone. I think 2 of the 5 had heartworm, maybe they wouldn't have had it if they were given up humanely.
HM is right when he says
The owner has more to do with how well a dog behaves than the breeding.

As for craigslist, they prohibit listing that offer FREE animals. Why? Its very sad, but there are bad people out there that 'adopt' these poor pets for pit bull bait. Also, the medical labs hit craigslist for free animals too, for animal testing. Its the harsh truth. What a sick world we live in.

As I posted on the other pets forum, I literally just had a conversation with my neighbor who feels like "all children should get to experience a cat having kittens or dog having puppies just once in their life, just for the experience of it."

She also believes that if your cat/dog is a pure breed they should be bred and not fixed.

Really think she should instead go spend some time in a shelter with her kids instead of in allowing her own dogs to reproduce, knowing how many puppies and kittens are out there.

As far as cost of neutering/spaying, there are places in our area that greatly discount the cost. But in my opinion, before one adopts, the cost of spaying/neutering should be in the budget. If it's not, how can shots, and other incidentals be afforded? One can't know whether the adoptee would have health problems, or any other needed care along the way. $$ is just part of pet ownership and has to be budgeted in.

We got our male 10 mo. old lab last summer on Craigs List for a 'homing fee' and he is a real treasure. The couple was into a divorce and had a little baby. They couldn't handle a super-active lab pup --- why on earth they got one when she was pregnant with the baby, I don't know. Anyway, he was out of control --- barking constantly to get inside with the family. He was contained in a fenced yard and what dog wants to be outside by himself when the family is indoors. Because he was never really trained, he ate off the table, ate couches and chairs and was a real menace to them. So ---- when he barked to come in, they put him in a crate. SAD.

It took all of two days to house break him and about that long to teach him about his unacceptable behavior. We also have a female lab who is 2 years old and was a real help. Today, he is just over a year old and the perfect (huge) dog. He and his best friend (our female) run and play on our farm constantly. Yes, we are going to let them have a litter.

The Labrador is the most over Breed breed of dog in the USA and it is also the Number one Killed dog here as well.
I work for a vet and I can tell you "I have seen it all".
If the dog is not going to be used for what they were breed to do. Hunting, Herding, Guarding, Family pet, ect.... and the puppies are not going to go too people that will use them for what they were breed to do then what are you breeding them for. All dogs make good pets not all people make good dog owners!
Most people that I see got the pup because its "SO CUTE", until one day they come to the realization that it has now grown into a "Not so CUTE" dog. No one took the time to teach it manners or get it fixed no training at all really.
Now they don't want it anymore! no one will take! the shelters charge a relinquish fee that they do not want to pay. So WHAT DO THEY DO WITH IT? They take it for a ride and "DUMP" it off someplace far from home. If it is lucky Animal control will pick it up and it will then go to a shelter, MIGHT get adopted!!! most often it will be EUTH.
If it is not so lucky it will get hit by a car or shot by someone because it is not supposed to be there.
If people would do a little home work, before they buy a dog the disappointment in there dogs would not happen as often. SO often they say to use"We had no idea this breed of dog was so hyper or got so big".
We had one family that had 6 dogs in there back yard! All were related, all were unaltered, all had not had one bit of training. No rescue had room for them no one wanted to adopt them, the family had no other choice but to Euth. all 6 dogs, $300 bucks. It cost them. Now when they found the first dog and decided to keep her, a spay would have cost them $75 bucks. What part of that story do people not get?? Some days I wonder what the hell is wrong with some people.
I go home some days with a very heavy heart because of the poor animals we treated or killed that day. So goes life for our four footed friends. I have 4 little dogs I took home rater than see them Euth. because no one wanted them! They are all AWESOME, LOVING, Family to Dh and myself.