I'm pretty conflicted about it, really. I'm on the old side and we have always gotten rescues. My kid (16) is kind of in love with the idea of a golden and as we descend into old age and relative infirmity (I'm in my 50s but FEEL older) the idea of a purposefully bred dog without baggage kinda appeals. I love every dog we've ever gotten from a rescue or animal control but they can be a handful. We will see in all likelihood we won't follow through with this purebred thing cause we are suckers for a weird looking shelter dog.