I used to live in Hammond, LA which is still a very rural area complete with dairy farms, beef farms, & whatnot. And I used to volunteer at AC to help eval dogs, bathe dogs, walk dogs, & EUTHANIZE dogs. And I can promise you that the majority of the dogs in shelters are there b/c human don't research a dog breed before getting one & then get frustrated when the dog doesn't act how the owner expected. Border Collies, Australian Shepherds, & Australian Cattle Dogs are a dime a dozen there b/c people got them after hearing how good they are with kids & b/c they are so pretty & they were nowhere near prepared to deal with the strong herding instincts which led the dogs to roam, chase children, & run other people's livestock (which is a HUGE no-no in rural farm areas). We also saw a lot of GSDs & even 3 Malinois that someone paid a lot of money for & they were turned over b/c of their wariness to strangers & guarding habits & the owners weren't prepared for that. They wanted a guardian breed that would allow strangers onto their home & into their home with no problem. We even had several EB's turned over b/c people weren't prepared to deal with the health problems. And terriers? Geeze. "The dog has too much energy", "He's eating my plants & diggin up my garden", "He's chasing my chickens", "He's chewing up all my stuff". These are the majority of the cases that we saw. Of course there were animal cruelty cases, but that's not even close to being the major reason why dogs end up in shelters. Go work in one & see.