We have 10 dogs from breeders (or bred by ourselves), 2 rescues and at least 2 rescue fosters at any one time. We also founded and run the biggest and busiest dedicated rescue in our breed.
We don't feel guilty at all. Good, ethical, responsible breeders (see here for our definition - http://www.shwauk.org.uk/buying_a_puppy.htm) are absolutely necessary to ensure the continuing health and attributes of the breed. Without them, (and left to the puppy farmers, backyard breeders and naive/greedy'stupid "pet" breeders) the breed would quickly degenerate both in terms of health and conformation and within a few generations would be unrecognisable.
Not only that, but the minority of good, ethical, responsible breeders do not in fact have any impact whatever on the rescue crisis within our breed. That crisis is entirely due to the huge majority of commercial breeders - whether small or large scale. Over the past two or three years the rescue situation has changed dramatically. Whereas ten years ago the majority of dogs coming into rescue were the products of a small number of well-known "volume" breeders, today probably 80% have been bred by pet owners who have put their unregistered, un-health-tested pet to a similarly bred male down the road. This is beginning to throw up increasing problems in health, conformation and temperament.

In short, we should be equally praising people if they rescue or if they do the research and buy a dog from a good, ethical, responsible breeder. We should save our anger and contempt for the unethical, irresponsible breeders and try our utmost to help the naive public from buying from these people.

Mick

I do think you only feel guilty if you think you've done something wrong, so as long as your dogs come from a responsible source, whether from rescue, or breeder why should you think you've done summat wrong? And if you do feel you've summat wrong, why did you do it?

The adoption/rescue parallel - it's really breathtakingly somewhere... well between naive and offensive.

I'm one of those people for whom I DO get the "pressure" (although it's not that - it's people opening their mouths before engaging their brain trying to be "helpful") to adopt rather than have a biological child - since it's so hard for us (and it looks like I'm currently in the middle of yet another miscarriage but don't know for certain yet)... to compare that biological urge to have your own genetic children (if it hits you and you can't do it it's like a steam roller but with added spikey painful bits) and even the trauma and intrusiveness and scrutiny of the adoption process (no one has to meet the right exact ethnic background to adopt a dog - not even in the most mythologically bad rescue in the land) is nowhere on the same planet or in the same universe as the most stringent homecheck going for any animal.

To even compare the two - belittles it completely in quite an offensive way.

I've rewritten this post umpteen times to try to verbalise what I'm thinking - and I still probably haven't done it well... and "quit trotting out the all rescue dogs have issues" rubbish too... quite a lot of them just ended up in the wrong house at the wrong time and got failed collossally their humans - yet they carry this stigma for the rest of their lives - because their "owners" failed them. THAT piddles me off.

for my next dog I would like a puppy again but not many pups come into rescue..