I personally would not buy a mtb that old. Technology has come such a long way in even the dozen years since that bike came out.
my son has a 26" wheel mtb bike. A kona, actually. I can make it keep up with a newer bike, but man is it a lot of work. The dawg was actually a pretty nice bike. If that's what's in your budget and you're doing mostly xc with little technical work it would be an ok bike.