Just a thought, since I'm dreaming of someday showing a home-bred dog > champion..
If you could choose a foundation bitch; would you choose a line-bred bitch whose background you know well (seen many of the dogs in her pedigree), with good health, topline, coat etc but with some minor faults or a totally cross bred geourgious bitch whose ancestors are total
to you..
I think I would choose the known over the un-known.. Just to be pretty sure of my starting point.