The other day while heading home from the dog park with Jack, I stepped off a high curb and heard a peculiar noise.

A while back, NeighborhoodCircle.com reader Grump wrote a blog. In "Suburban Pedigree Parade--The Tail of the Hanoverian Herder", he told us about how certain North Shore community residents are a bit snooty about their purebred pets, and his appreciation for his own somewhat impure canine friend.

This struck a chord with me because I like dogs a lot.

As I write this blog, many of you are taking time off from work or school.

If you live in certain northern suburbs that must remain nameless, having a dog without a breed is like having a dinner party without cheese and wine first. It is just never done.