I heard an interesting arguement the other day.
At my school, all the vet student are grumbly because recent laws make it illegal to take pound dogs who are about to the euthanized and use them as teaching/research dogs, giving them a later chance at adoption after their service. We now need to buy dogs from breeding labs.
However, the arguement I heard was that it is actually more humane to buy a dog that has been bred in a lab than to use a pound pup. This was the arguement that the animal rights groups used, I believe, when they were pushing the law change Why? Because a lab-bred dog will be able to adjust much better to the lab environment. A pound dog may have spent life in a home with people, outside, etc. If you put that dog in a smallish run in a lab for a few years, they will go absolutely crazy. The lab-bred dogs, however, don't know about having homes or being outside a lot (sad I know but read on) so when they are serving their lab term, they adjust well and stay sane - because it is all they have ever known.
Thoughts? I had just never considered that angle.