Can't help you with that dilemma Breechplug. Other than two pure bred (but not registered) Beagles, every dog I've ever had was a mutt of some kind.

My big brown hairy "Tucker" died from infection after tangling with some unknown critter the week after Hurricane Katrina. I had rescued his tick infected hide as a pup nine years earlier from a trash pile aside a logging road. His parentage was unknown but his build was something like a Husky.

Picked up my current gal, "Mildew" from the New Orleans animal shelter two months after Katrina. She has a good bit of Catahoula Cur in her, but sure isn't pure bred, even though she believes she's some sort of royalty. Maybe because my wife treats her that way.