Gemtubbs "The puppies without these "highly desirable" qualities are often euthanized despite being otherwise healthy"
The above is absolute nonsense. Out of a litter of pedigree puppies, 1, maybe two or three if you are very lucky, will be of good enough quality to show and most pedigree puppies go to pet homes anyway. Long, long gone are the days when breeders culled undesireable puppies, only a very small few unscrupulous and disgusting people would do that these days. How many white boxers or GSD's do you see about? Quite a few indeed.
Flatbread, apologies, but you are demostarting your ignorance in this matter even further. There are 'breeders', people who happen to breed their dogs, be that peopel who breed their pets for whatever reason, deliberately or accidentally, for money or not and puppy farmers who churn out litter after litter with not a thought for health, temprement or anything else and do not health test their dogs and yes, do make money because everything else is compromised in order to do so. Then there are 'reputable breeders'. People who usually keep their dogs also as their pets and companions, who spend a huge amount of time with their chosen breed of dog and generally immersing their whole selves in all things doggy, who show or work their dogs or both, who make it their business to know every single thing they can about that breed, the different blood lines and the quirks each one has, the individual dogs and what they are personally like etc etc. These people usually breed when they want another puppy to keep themselves and show/work and then any other puppies in the litter are sold on. Most people like this will breed once a year at most, often every 5 or 6 years and will spend far more on their hobby than they ever make back on what is left after expenses on one litter. 9 puppies x £700 (even per year) does not £6,300 profit make. It costs half that to breed and rear a litter , maybe all of that or more than that in some cases. Then there may be time taken off work or self employment to take care of those puppies or to pay someone to supervise them constantly, usually 24/7 in the first few weeks. Dog shows cost hundred of pounds to enter and attend. On top of that, unlike with horses, for example, the best breeders and best stud dog or best puppies do not command a higher price than the rest, they all cost the same to breed, so they are all worth the same money. No money in breeding dogs ethically and properly at all.
As for why people need a pedigree pup. Yes, we all know badly tempered Labs or Labs that don't look like Labs. Why? Because of irresponsible breeders and if over 90% of pedigree dogs are bred irresponsibly, there aren't many responsibly bred left, are there? However, responsibly bred pedigrees mean you know what you are getting.