TIME

Why the Westminster Dog Show made me appreciate mutts

I spent three years among dogs with bloodlines like British royalty. In our world, they would be earls and duchesses. Their names are in stud books that go back many generations. They are the product of centuries of careful breeding to make them the most perfect versions of themselves.

Eh. I like mutts better.

It’s not that I didn’t like the dogs I met at dog shows around the U.S.—including the most prestigious of them all,

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