You were very lucky that your Sibe was house-broken, etc., and had very few issues. Having worked at the SPCA local to me in NJ for 10 years, I can say that your experience is not necessarily the norm. So why did you pick a Sibe? Why didn't you adopt a more common "shelter" breed like a mutt? BECAUSE you liked the SIBE, not the Lab/Shepherd mixes that are all too common in shelters these days.
That said, I also have volunteered for Malinois rescue for many years - people who adopt our Mals could just as easily get a mutt from the pound, but they don't - they like Malinois - whether it's aesthetics or not. So I don't preach that there are enough pets in shelters for them to adopt... it is infrequent to find certain breeds in shelters - probably due to lack of overall numbers in the area. I can say the whole I time I was working in the shelter only a handful of purebred Sibes every came through our doors.
So I don't fault someone who wants a pet of a certain breed and seeks out a breeder, rather than adopting a shelter dog.
I adopted dogs from the shelter where I worked. Not always easy. So eventually I decided to research breeds I liked so that I could find a dog with character traits I wanted in a package that I liked.
Do I disagree - there are NOT good pet dogs that people want "everywhere" - that's exactly why Tamaskans came about. All breeds were created from some root stock - our own CsVs are bred from GSDs - just because it was a government program originally does not make it better or worse than someone going ahead and developing the Tamaskan.
And why NOT develop a breed just for companionship? Most of the Toy Group fit that.
My point is, so what is wrong with developing the Tamaskan? It more than certainly is NOT preventing the adoption of all the pit mixes in the shelter right now - the people who want a Tamaskan won't be the ones who adopt a mutt, or even a Sibe, for that matter - they want a Tamaskan. The same reason I wanted a Vlcak - hey, there are more wolf-hybrids available - and I could rescue one of those but I didn't want one - I wanted a Vlcak. I didn't want a pit mix or any other mutt. Not that there is anything wrong with them, but they are not right for me.
I am tired of people criticizing others for wanting and promoting purebred dogs over rescuing shelter dogs. In my experience, one really has nothing to do with the other. And when it comes right down to it, those same folks tend to have their breed preferences, too... that's what I meant by my comment. A lot of those same critical folks are just as selective of the dog they bring into their home, so why the criticism? A little hypocritical to me.
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