Very nice article, IMO.

I am a loyal promoter of mutts, mongrels, random-breds and Heinz 57s. Our dog was the lucky result of a mating between a Newfoundland male and a female whose appearance no doubt resulted from the mixing of many generations of farm dogs. She was large, ginger and white, beautiful, and utterly kind. She never harmed or even threatened a living thing in her whole life.

When I moved to this area a couple decades ago, the job of dog-catcher included going around to try to catch people who hadn't paid their dog-licence. The man who held the position when I first lived here was uniquely unfitted for the job: he was missing a leg, didn't like wearing his prosthetic, so would sit in his truck and yell out the window as to whether you or anyone in the neighbourhood had an unlicenced dog.

Soon after, a lady took on the job, and she had the advantage of actually going to the houses and knocking on doors, so was much more successful. About dogs and cats, however, she knew little. When she inquired of a friend of mine what breed the dog was, for her form, he replied, while affectionately ruffling the dog's fur: "Oh, she's just a mutt, really. She's a soft-eared puppy". He swears she had written mutt, then crossed it out and put down 'Soft Eared Puppy' on the breed line. A neighbour marvelled that he had jokingly told her that his tiny lap-dog was a cat, at which pronouncement she said good-day and left. Alas, those days are gone, one must now drive to town to pay the license.