My family always had purebred dogs when I was growing up. We almost always affectionately called them "Mutt" or "the mutt."

Granted, we also often referred to the cats interchangeably as "Furface," so our standards may have been a bit lax, but I don't think garden-variety dog snobbery is so extreme as to take offense at "mutt."

(Though I have heard it used semi-derogatively about people, and that's kind of a whole other thing.)

Not at all! But then, my dog is a mutt! And so am I!

It's not intrinsically one way or the other; it can be used with great affection or as a perjorative.

This (immaculate and purebred) thing under the desk here is not infrequently referred to as any of:
dirty (damned) dog
(damned) mutt
useless (damned) mutt
worthless (damned) dog
worthless hairbag
worse than useless
waste of space
pest
nuisance
bother
pushy bitch

and so on, but as far as she knows they're all terms of endearment. I think almost any dog owner is familiar with "mutt" as an affectionate term and any few who get their nose out of joint about the word alone - eh, you don't really those kind of people around anyway. They'll find a way to take offense at any (damned) thing.

No. I find with animals, it's all tone of voice and attitude toward the creature that strikes me as offensive or mean-spirited. Either you view pet animals with affection or you don't. I've known people who look down on pound-puppies, but I've never known people who felt inadequate because their dog is a mutt. Now, I've seen people take offense at the implication that their dog was not a purebred dog. But I haven't seen anyone try to insult a person by deliberately implying the dog wasn't purebred.

Our first dog came from highly regarded breeders with a well-vetted AKC hunting dog pedigree. Dad used to call him "Big Dummy" and "Big Dummy Dog" and the dog loved it because Dad never took a pejorative tone. My friends used to laughingly call him "Big Head". The only person who ever offended me by referring to my dog as anything was a man who clearly thought the dog was a disgusting thing that should never have been allowed in the house. He even called the dog by its name, but he always sounded like he was using the worst invective he knew.

My second dog was poorly-bred and probably misrepresented as pure-bred. It would not have offended me to hear him referred to as a mutt or as poorly-bred. But anyone who thought he was a bad dog was mistaken.

It wouldn't prevent me from going to a website with that in the name, but I don't like the word in general. It does seem perjorative; I can call my own dog a mutt, but you'd better not.

"Mutt" is a badge of honor.

I refer to my dogs as mutts frequently (they are both mixed breed dogs.) Of course, I also refer to them as "YOUSILLYFUCKERS" and "STOPEATINGCATPOOPSONSOFBITCHES" so I may not be the best person to answer this question.

I don't care what anyone else calls my dogs. Most of the time (especially with Binky) I get asked, "what kind of dog is THAT?" - he's cute and you can tell there's pug there but who knows what else. I've never had anyone ask that question in an insulting way - even if I did I'd answer the question with a smartass reply and wouldn't really be offended.

No, the term "mutt" never offended me. Most of my dogs were mutts, with the exception of only a very few, and all of them were called mutts at one time or other. I'm a mutt, myself, and never minded the term when used on myself.

Wolfdog, I was walking with a friend once, and passing a yard where a dog was barking at us furiously. I said, (a bit loudly), "Oh shut up." A little girl about 4 years old in the next yard looked at us and said sweetly, "Do you know that damned dog?" Cracked us up.

"Mutt" is insulting only in certain circles you don't want to be associated with anyway. I reserve my dislike for the term "pooch".

It's pretty much negatively loaded but can be neutral or affectionate in plenty of circumstances. Even if I'm generally alright with it, I'd be more bothered by the request "Can you put your mutt back on its leash?" than "Can you put your dog back on its leash?"

As far as the website thing goes, I think it depends on the tone of the content.

Seeing "mutt" in a URL wouldn't stop me from visiting. I call Kaylee* a silly mutt at least a brazillion times a day, but always with affection.

*Half American Eskimo, half Shetland Sheepdog.

No, I don't.

And I own a purebread. A poorly and irreputably bred purebread (not from a real breeder), who I love with the truest love.

Mutts tend to be more even tempered than my dog.

Another term is "cross-breed" - but that implies to me identifying two purebread parents, and so, therefore, exclusive. Like a LabraPoo. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, just adding another word to the discussion.)

Seeing it in an URL wouldn't put me off. Context is everything, though.

We have a purebred rescue dog - I actually have the papers, somewhere - but otherwise I've usually had what we in my family refer to as "Heinz 57" dogs.

I proudly grew up with nothing but mutts.

Our lab came from a breeder of labs (hunting dogs all: AKC, field championship holders yadda yadda) and the term "mutt" applied to him doesn't bother me one bit. I frequently address him as "you crazy mutt" in a high pitched tone which only boneheaded labradors and fruit bats can hear. Mutt in the url wouldn't bother me at all. However, my attitude about this might be influenced by the massive amount of guilt I carry about his origins. He's the first dog I've ever had who wasn't rescued by me off the streets, the only reason I agreed to getting him was because I wanted to train him for duck retrieving, which is a huge investment of time and effort and I wanted to start w/ a dog from a known heritage and medical history. All of the duck hunters I know also wouldn't be bothered by 'mutt' so long as it wasn't said with the intention to disparage.

I have a mutt and a purebred (who we found on the side of the road as a tiny puppy & who was never claimed, despite our best efforts) and I could care less what they're called. I always say mutt although I have been known to occasionally refer to them as the Mongrel Horde.

Cool, everyone. Thanks for your input. I'm kicking around the idea of starting a new website/blog/eventually community for dog-type peoples and while trying to come up with URLs that would fit the bill, started having an internal debate about whether the inclusion of the word "mutt" would turn people off. I'm glad to know it doesn't, at least for the majority of the sane folks out in the interwebs.

I truly appreciate the feedback.

Oh, crap. I apologize if anyone inferred from that post that I think people that would take offense to someone calling their dog a mutt are insane. That wasn't my point.

I just have a problem with using language that would offend, well, anyone, and didn't know how polarizing of a word it would be.

I hope it's obvious that if I wind up using the word in a URL, it's strictly with the utmost respect and meant to be a positive thing.

I'm probably over-thinking this. I have a tendency to do that.