“What breed is he? Or she?” a woman […] asked me one morning. Her large black sheepdog mix circled around us. / “He,” I said. “Terrier mutt.” / “Don’t ever say that,” the woman scolded me. “Mutt is a horrible, insensitive, mean thing to call any dog.” Off she stalked with her sheepadoodle, or whatever his precise and proper designation was.
Source: wiktionary