I know it’s unpopular, but I have to admit that I like dogs that are discernible breeds. I grew up with Irish setters. I adore golden retrievers (obviously). I have a friend who breeds poodles. My own experiences with my diabetic platinum retriever aside, there’s something to be said for knowing what you’re getting.

I did my good deeds as an adult. I rescued a (mostly) golden retriever and a teeny black lab mix. I adopted another lab mix that my niece found too much work on top of her two kids (although she couldn’t stand it and got another dog shortly after that, which made me feel pretty guilty).

But for me, it was purely monetary: I didn’t have all the ethical hangups, but I also didn’t have tons of money. So why spend thousands when I could get something similar for free? You’ll get a lot of arguments on both sides: Good breeders will give you a dog with a background, a genetic writeup, and a pretty fair assessment of temperament. Bad breeders will give you a dog that will go blind and bite you if it doesn’t die of some horrific disease first. Good rescues will give you a dog that might have some baggage from previous owners, but they will also do their best to let you know what you’re in for. Bad rescues won’t vet you and will hand dogs off to anyone for any reason.

My mom is a dog person par excellence. I have always said that if I’m a good girl in this life, karma will bring me back as one of my mom’s dogs in the next life. She has always had purebreds: Irish setters, a Gordon setter, a flat-coated retriever, and a springer spaniel. All great dogs, healthy with loving personalities. But 90 percent of that was her knowing what she was getting into and then getting to know the animals. The one dog she had that was more highly strung was treated accordingly—closely supervised around kids, tested carefully at dog parks before being let off lead, you get the gist.

I dunno, man. I’ve loved pretty much every dog I’ve ever encountered, including a messed-up sheepdog that bit me on the face when I was in kindergarten. (My mother was appalled, with good reason. That dog, which had been harassed by kids, later bit the baby of its owners, who were shocked—shocked!!—at such an outcome despite my experience a year earlier.) I don’t know how much genetics plays into it. There are some awfully ugly purebreds out there, same as there are some amazingly brilliant mutts.

With apologies to Tom Lehrer, getting and having a dog is like a sewer: What you get out of it depends on what you put into it. Do some research. Don’t get a couch potato if you want an athlete that needs lots of interaction. Visit the dog more than once, or watch lots of video first if you can only visit once. Take your kid or other pets or anyone else in the household and see what the dog does in their presence before you commit to taking it home. Rescue an adult and clean up some previous owner’s mess. Get a puppy and mess it up yourself. But don’t go in blind. That’s just dumb.