Mmmmm is pretty much right; XXX Factor is wrong. Dogs that are considered "rescue" dogs usually are placed through a breed rescue. Dogs that are taken back by their breeders and placed in another home are generally considered to be "rehomes", and this is an important distinction BECAUSE official breed rescues are not allowed to pass on the dog's registration papers as a general rule, whereas if the breeder takes a dog back, s/he can pass on the registration papers as well. Breed rescues also usually spay/neuter if the dog isn't already.

Shelters are usually glad to work with breed rescues because if they can pass on a known purebred to a rescue group, that dog can be assessed and placed by people who KNOW the breed, and the shelter has a free spot for another deserving dog.

Add to that the plain fact that Portuguese Water Dogs just aren't that popular (unfortunately that will probably now change) and have a VERY active rescue organization, making them unlikely to end up in shelters. In my years of volunteering at shelters, *I've* never seen one show up. The no-kill shelter I worked with used to take as many dogs as possible from the KILL shelters (we worked with the holding facilities), and would take owner give-ups sometimes, but we always tried to get any purebreds we ended up with into a breed rescue. Sometimes the rescues were full, but would send someone out to help evaluate the dog and find a home for it.