Their loss is surely your gain. I can`t stand when people take older animals to the pound or to be re-homed. I can`t even imagine how hard that is mentally on a dog. I have seen dogs 13 years old needing homes from heartless people giving them up for whatever excuse.
This is one of the few things that infuriates me, getting a dog should be a damn life time commitment. It should not be so lightly treated, some people think it's a decoration/accessory to be discarded when inconvenient.
The dogs owners should put in pounds.