I apologize if the word "dull" did upset you @ bragesjo
I truly believe the 7...Qa5 line to be sound, but it lacks the tactical fireworks compared to the "pure" dragon. In addition black also has to act very precise in order to keep the balance (as in most openings I guess
My previous note to 8...d5 !? might be a bit exaggerated and maybe it´s just a good weapon in blitz and rapid games, as GM Dubov recently did in a russian rapid tournament.
8...e6 is a nice way to play. It was used some years ago by GM Hugo Spangenberg with good results.
Oparin, Grigoriy2569–Dubov, Daniil26611–0B3569th Moscow Blitz11.306.09.2015
1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.xd4 g7 6.e3 f6 7.c4 0-0 8.b3 d5 9.exd5 a5 10.f3 b6 11.d3 f5 12.d2 e4 13.xe4 xe4 14.c4 c8 15.c1 b5 16.c5 xb3 17.axb3 xd5 18.0-0 xb3 19.b4 c4 20.fd1 c7 21.b3 a5 22.a3 e2 23.d2 xf3 24.gxf3 c6 25.xa5 a8 26.b6 xf3 27.xb5 e5 28.c4 fd8 29.xd8+ xd8 30.c6 h3 31.f4 d4 32.xe5 xc4 33.xc4 xb3 34.c1 a3 35.f4 a6 36.c7 c8 37.b1 1-0
Dubov lost this game, but after the opening his Position was fine.
In my opinion the cool point about this accalerated move order is, that black manages to lure the Kings Bishop to c4 and later to b3. This helps black to avoid 9.g4 or 9.000 and even 12.Kb1 in the "pure" Dragon