i dont know, there are lots of celebrities who have mutts

So true! And even then you might not know the dog well - it may take a while to see what sets them off etc. But I'm not against rescuing..just giving an example.

Like when OH and family went to the rescue, Benjie pup was sat in a kennel with a cone on his head (just been neutered) his card ticked all their requirements; Benjie was said to be good with; cats, dogs, children and small furries. There's only rabbits he wouldn't have (past term) tried to have a go at/kill when the OH brought him home.

I would love to rescue and have found difficulties within it - like having to have my dogs bits lopped off - which I will not do until he is at a suitable age. I also have young children that visit and I have a DA dog, who has to meet new dogs in our garden or else he displays all this fear aggression which would put fosterers/rescues off letting us have him - even though he is perfectly fine with dogs in the garden. But they have to let dogs meet in a neutral territory - so this is another point against me.

I will rescue in the future when Louie is neutered and older. I was going to rescue a greyhound this past summer but the time wasn't right and Louie would most likely injure a Grey if they were running around the garden, him being a bolshy puppy who is very clumsy also. So they are still on my list but when Louie is older and calmer.

Forgot to answer the question:
When we got Louie I did feel guilty - I always said that my first dog would be a rescue - and now I don't regret it, but at the time I walked the dogs at the rescues (to make me feel a little better). I always donate food and bedding at Christmas and when I can get to them - I spend time with the dogs.

But thinking about it and I have said above about Benjie's issues with dogs in neutral territory - we wouldn't have been allowed to rescue.

I am sure. I am more talking about some of the people I know who would never have a mut and it is those who are ultra image conscious. I do not know that many millionaires but the ones I happen to know who have dogs say things like - I was the first person to have this breed in Switzerland, or - got him from an excellent breeder.

Of course some people are image conscious about having everyone know that their dog was saved from death by them etc!

My hounds have played with lots of bolshy dogs, its the only dogs they don't scare, but the only times they've been hurt is through bites, apart from when Diesel ran into a brick wall as a pup, Greys and their types are a lot stronger then some people give them credit for IMO.

I know but I'd still like to wait until he is older and calmer before I do rescue a Grey..

For my peace of mind..

No,I didn't feel guilty,why should I ?

Both mine came from excellent breeders,I have no regrets whatsoever.
Having had an absolute nightmare with a rescue dog I felt that I needed to bring in a young puppy to bring up with our children.
I will however seriously consider bringing home a rescue in the future or fostering but my hands are tied at the minute because I have Meg who is DA and wouldn't tolerate another dog in her home.

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?

Thought about it a lot in the past - what I'd do if we won the lottery. Yep we'd probably go buy a big house somewhere and another couple of dogs...

...and none of them would be puppies from a breeder.

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

No, I don't feel guilty at all.
I wanted a specific breed, and I know not many end up in rescue, or if they do, they are older - and after having lost Teagan quite young, I couldn't deal with getting an older dog knowing it might not have long left.