My first dog, the one that was just straight up mine and not a family pet, was a rescue Australian Shepherd. He was the sweetest dog and needed the sort of TLC that a 10-year-old kid loves to give. He was bought as a family pet, but was so shy and scared after his abusive upbringing that he would hide in my room under my bed all day until I finally coaxed him out from under it to cuddle and play. It was an amazing experience. When he died too soon, my mom tracked down the lady who owned his father and found out that his father was still bred. So, as a Christmas present, I got his half brother as an eight week old puppy. That, too, was a super good experience as a kid. Having pets that you really bond and interact with is so much more personal than just a branding statement of "I got a dog from the pound" or "I bred my own." I'm sitting here tearing up just thinking about all the ways both those dogs have helped me in life.

I did 4H and agility with both my dogs as a kid, I've known a lot of dog breeders, I've known a ton of people who only get pets from the pound, etc. I understand all the arguments on both sides and have heard them countless times. But on some level, man, it is really rude to just rush into a conversation with this preconceived morality and try to take all the memories and joy people have had with their pets from them. "Oh, you didn't get your pet the right way?" People who give zero thought to how they live their lives in any other way will pick this one issue to take a side on and it drives me insane. My friend who smokes gave me a bunch of grief for having a purebred Aussie when I was a kid because he had shelter dogs and heard his mom make a big deal out of it to him. And like, I get it, I would never say no to another shelter or rescue dog -- ever. I'm tremendously sympathetic to that. But when people get judge-y like this, all I can think of is the Portlandia bicyclist sketch. Mind ya business.