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A healthy 13-year-old mixed-breed dog shows hybrid vigor.
A mixed-breed dog (also called a bastard, mutt (shortened from muttonhead), crossbreed, mongrel, tyke, cur, or random-bred dog, see Terms for mixed-breed dogs, below) is a dog that is a mixture of two or more breeds, or a descendant of feral or pariah dog populations.
Since, except for extreme variations in size, dogs interbreed freely, mixed-breed dogs vary in size, shape, and color, making them hard to classify physically. Historically, all purebred dogs have been selected from a mixed-breed population. See Golden Retriever for an example. |
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