Ooh..this is one of those subjects I can talk about forever.
No amount of interviewing someone will ensure that they are going to be a good dog owner. My sister got 4 dogs...all of which my parents ended up with. She is able to talk her way out of anything though (a lawyer) and looks good on paper.
We have 2 dogs. One we got from a good breeder. I was as picky in finding the breeder as she was in picking who got her dogs. We drove over 5 hours to go to another state because none of the breeders I talked too or visited here were as good IMHO (I won't buy a purebred dog from someone who isn't involved in the breed rescue as well as breeding). We weren't looking for a dog to breed, but were contemplating showing. Till we decided he didn't have all the qualities needed for breeding we co-owned him with the breeders who would have been responsible for breeding him. We got a beagle...we were experienced dog owners or she wouldn't have sold him. He's a handful and a half to say the least. Love him to death, but it is kind of funny to have to leave such a long list of "do not leave a chair anywhere near the counter or Chaucer will push it so he can get up on the counter and if there is anything resembling food...he will eat it" type instructions for people who house sit for us. Really...a lot of people would have ditched him by now, but he's sweet and loving and great with the kids if you can get past his extreme beagleniss.
Our other dog is a rescue. I live in Oregon, she came from Texas. She is the type of dog that absolutely everyone loves. Every single person who house sits for us has said that if we die...they'll take Annwn. She's a Gordon Setter...spent the first 5 years of her life chained to a tree. She has papers, was registered, and was bred every single time she came into heat. She never learned how to play. Her favourite game is to sit with her tail wagging like mad staring at the ground. We think she's looking for bugs or something...they were her only friends after all. When the family that owned her gave her to the rescue, she was pregnant again. They spayed her anyway and when the vet opened her up...he said that her uterus just shattered like it was glass when he touched it and it was good they had spayed her before the puppies started moving because she and they would all have died. She is now 14 (they usually only live 10-12 years), blind, mostly deaf, and as happy as a clam. I'm so happy that she's been able to live as long as she has in order to make up for the life she had at the start. She still doesn't know how to play, and we can't take her on walks anymore because she's too scared of things she can't see (has the yard and house memorized), but she is in fantastic health and in true rescue dog form...still so appreciative.
Oh, and one more thing. Designer breeds make me gag!!!! Sorry. My aunt wanted a dog that didn't shed, wanted a small one, wanted it hypoallergenic (though she and her daughters aren't allergic), wanted one she thought was cute, and refused to look at any of the rescues I found for her online (she's in a different state), wouldn't look at any of the breeders of pure-bred dogs that I found. Nope, she wanted one of the fad mutt dogs that people are inventing names for so that the person buying won't think they have a mutt but a cute new breed. She got a cava-poo (cavalier king charles and poodle mix), and spent about $1500.00 for it! I could hurl. Think of all the stray dogs that could be designer dogs you could rescue from the pound with that. Let me see...a shepalab (shepherd/lab), a corgeltie (corgie/sheltie), a chowhound (hehe...chow/basset), a dog that lives in our neighborhood...a basstriever (basset/retriever...looks like a golden with 1/2 the leg length). Look, I just invented a bunch of new dogs. Doubt they'll go over as well as the labradoodle, puggle, and other poodle mixes. Poodles are being touted as the perfect dog to mix with another to make it the best dog ever. aaaarrrrggggghhhhhhh!!!
rant over