I understand what you are saying. I went to petfinder.com looking for rescue yorkies or other small breeds, and they were $550 from a "rescue" place! Why would someone pay that much money for a dog that they possibly cannot have around children or company at all, that quite possibly has bad personality issues? I mean, there are people out there that will, if they have that kind of money and a big heart for doing that kind of thing. But most people will say "shoot, for that much money, I can get a registered purebred puppy". Not all rescues are in it for the greater good, and are no different than a puppy mill.
I agree on the PETA thing too. When you get down to exactly what they believe, they say we should not even have any pets. No eating animals, no housing animals, that means no pets, no burgers, just coexisisting with animals running wild apparently. If they took a look at one of our cutesy little yorkie pics with a topknot and a dress on, they'd be on like white on rice...white rice that is.
