Here's a simple and easy guide to choosing a dog. These are some of the things you should consider when choosing your puppy or adult dog to ensure you pick a best friend for life.

Purebred, Crossbred or Mixed-Breed
A purebred dog is a dog whose parents are both of the same breed. Humans create purebred dogs through selective breeding - inbreeding.

Purebred dogs did not exist before humans manufactured them - a dog would simply breed with any other dog it chose, so there were no "purebreds", just a race of mixed-breed dogs. The advantage of choosing a purebred dog is that you can accurately determine his size, shape, and personality.

So, for example, if you were to choose a Poodle puppy you would know with certainty what he will look like when he gets older, his approximate size, that he will be intelligent, and easy to train, and that he will hardly ever shed any hair.

A crossbred is the child of two different purebred dogs. Crossbreds are also known as designer or hybrid dogs. For example, if you cross a Labrador and a Poodle, you get what's known as a "Labradoodle".

A mixed-breed is the result of two random dogs who mate. Also known as mongrel, random-bred, or mutt. For example, a mixed-breed is the result if a Purebred, such as a Poodle, and a Crossbred, such as a Labradoodle mating.

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