My point is that most dogs are in rescue for a reason. It would seem you have been very fortunate.
I’m sorry I was snippy. Everyone on this thread, whether they purchase a purebred pup or adopt from a shelter, they love their dog of choice.
Dogs do end up in shelters for many reasons, and most would break your heart. Our first rescue, a golden/Brittany mix, had been tied to a tree for a couple of years because her owners decided they wanted a smaller house dog. She was terrified of thunderstorms, squeaky toys and loved sleeping on the couch.
Our second was an English Shepherd who was given up by her owner because the ~boyfriend~ didn’t like dogs. He had abused her as I found when I brushed out cowboy boot tip scabs from her fur. She had had “the bark” beaten out of her and was terrified of flyswatters. On those occasions when we had to use a flyswatter we would have to remove her from the room first. She loved her squeaky toys and would carefully pick out one to take outside.
Our third was given up when the elderly owner went into a nursing home; and the fourth, adopted the same day, so I look at them as a package deal, was a stray pulled out from under a trailer with her pups. The big old guy is a Buddha dog and loves everybody while the young one is a good girl who takes the old guy’s lead in how to react in any given situation.
Families give up dogs when a divorce occurs, when they move to a new apartment and can’t keep their pet, when they’ve chosen poorly and the dog gets too big or has too much energy for their lifestyle, and, in this economy, when they can no longer afford to feed it. Sometimes they take the dog to a shelter, sometimes they dump it on the side of the road, and other times they just move and leave the dog.
This is not to say that all dogs in shelters are great, wonderful dogs, because that’s not true. The reason does not have to be, however, unfixable behavioral problems.