Are dog owners who insist on buying purebreds instead of adopting mutts snobs?

I wouldn't necessarily say yes to that question. But, I can say yes for 1 of my neighbors.

Yesterday, when I saw her walking her 2 large German Shepherds instead of 1, I was surprised. Thankfully, Lucy wasn't with me, since her large dog seems to really hate Lucy and attacked her one time when she (the other dog) was off leash. Imagine me trying to stand between a 150 pound German Shephard to protect little 25 pound Lucy. It was dark and scary and thankfully Lucy wasn't injured. But now everytime I see that lady and her old "german trained in germany pure bred" walking around, I feel tense.

So, yesterday, when I saw that she had another 150 pound potential Lucy attacking German Shepherd, I wasn't exactly jumping for joy. Don't get me wrong, I have had very good experiences with that breed in the past. We grew up with a pure bred named Duke who would have done anything to protect us. My sister has a pure bred German Shephard named Katie who wouldn't attack anything or anyone (save a squirrel or chasing a neighborhood cat).

Anyhow, while standing at my mail box, I did the polite thing and comment on her second dog.

"Oh, I see you have another dog, did you adopt her recently?"

"Well," she paused, "She's 2 years old and trained in Germany and from the same blood line as her. This one's 14 years old and this one is just 2. I had her just flown in from Germany."

"Oh, she's lovely."

"Thanks. Does she look like her grandmother?"

"Yes, they look almost identical."

She smiled. I still felt confused.

"So, you did just adopt her?"

"She's 2 years old and I had her sent from Germany."

Then I got it. She refused to bow down to the lowly commoner level of using the verb "adopt" because it would imply that she got a mutt. She didn't adopt, in her mind, she purchased a high quality pure breed made-in-Germany trained-in-German German Shepherd. That dog couldn't be more branded than even a branded new Mercedes!

To this lady, it seems that a dog must be of high quality to match the high caliber of her art collection, or brand new Mercedes. She seems to "collect" dogs the way a wine conniseur collects fine wines - by vintage.

I'm not saying that this is wrong, I'm just saying that I love dogs simply for them being dogs. I love their silliness, their playfulness, their tricks. I also love mutts and feel passionate about adopting rescues as well.

I guess what really rubbed me the wrong way is that this lady, EVERY TIME I see her, has had to mention that her dog is "pure bred, trained in Germany, listens to commands in German" yet it is exactly that dog that didn't listen to her AT ALL off leash one night a few months ago. It is exactly that pure bred made-in-Germany dog that lunged and attacked my little Lucy. Is that a well-trained dog? And when the owner shouted at her to stop (I noticed it was in English, not in German), the dog didn't listen. She had to physically restrain her; something I wasn't sure this older lady could even do.

So, I'm not buying all the branding BS (and I'm even in marketing). Dogs are dogs. That's it. Some are smarter or friendlier than others. Sure, purebreds have a place and deserve love and "adoption". But they are all dogs, not an item to be purchased or collected, but living breathing furry companions.