Hounds

A dog, as the old idiom goes, is a man's best friend. I contend that a hound is doubly so.

Consider the boorish manner of some breeds. The wayward tail of the Labrador is enough to render the entire breed a nuisance. Long furred breeds like the collie and the malamute require extensive and expensive clearing of fur. Small breeds often suffer from an imperious temper, and are no more companions than they are capable of guarding a domicile. Retrievers are nice, but they lack grace. German Shepherds bark too damn much. Poodles are too toffish. Akitas, rottweillers and dobermans have wild tempers and cannot be trusted.

You'll find that all breeds of dog, with the exception of the hound, have some flaw. For those of us who don't find flaws endearing, the choice is obvious: hound dog.