My brother raised redbone coon houns for several years, some great looking dogs. He has 4 of his own...the parents, plus two from different litters over the past few years.
We have a mutt named Emma, a rescue dog I got at about 7 weeks old. She looked like $hit and smelled like death - but we got her taken care of at the vet, and she turned out awesome. She's just about 4 now, smart as a whip - crazy smart. We never really did zero in on her breeding though...the rescue shelter vet supposedly thought she was a puggle (pug-beagle) mixed with something else and wouldn't get to more than 30 lbs. or so. Well, she's about 75 lbs. now and she's been a real fun horse for the kids over the years :-)
VERY well behaved, too. Dosn't bark unless necessary, i.e - doesn't bark at the mailman because I explained she didn't need to!