Czarivey's opinion mirrors my own, lots of hype surrounds shaded dogs and people often pay too much for them at auction - assuming sound quality is supposed to correlate to the price paid for them. I've got a couple dozen of some of the most valuable USA pressed shaded dogs in mint or near mint condition and only a few of them warrant the hyperbole. I understand that various pressing plants had different levels of sound quality as well. Good to know about the UK pressings, I've not heard those. I wonder how many of those made their way to the US? Here's more info on RCA dog labels:
http://ronpenndorf.com/labelography4.html
http://ronpenndorf.com/labelography4.html