public class Dog
{
    private const string _birthStringFormat = "yyyy-MM-dd";

    [XmlIgnore]
    public DateTime Birth {get; set;}

    [XmlElement(ElementName="Birth")]
    public string BirthString
    {
        get { return Birth.ToString(_birthStringFormat); }
        set { Birth = DateTime.ParseExact(value, _birthStringFormat, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture); }
    }
}

public void SerializeFoo(string fileName, Foo foo)
{
    var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Foo));
    using (var stream = File.Open(fileName, FileMode.Create))
    {
        serializer.Serialize(stream, foo);
    }
}

public Foo DeserializeFoo(string fileName)
{
    var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Foo));
    using (var stream = File.OpenRead(fileName))
    {
        return (Foo)serializer.Deserialize(stream);
    }
}

<Store>
    <Articles>
        <Product/>
        <Product/>
    </Articles>
</Store>

public class Store
{
    [XmlArray("Articles")]
    public List<Product> Products {get; set; }
}

<Foo>
    <Dog/>
</Foo>

public class Foo
{
    // Using XmlElement
    [XmlElement(Name="Dog")]
    public Animal Cat { get; set; }
}

// Beware of the N^2 in terms of the number of types.
var allSerializers = allTypes.Select(t => new XmlSerializer(t, allTypes));
var serializerDictionary = Enumerable.Range(0, allTypes.Length)
    .ToDictionary (i => allTypes[i], i => allSerializers[i])

var allSerializers = XmlSerializer.FromTypes(allTypes);
var serializerDictionary = Enumerable.Range(0, allTypes.Length)
    .ToDictionary(i => allTypes[i], i => allSerializers[i]);

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using System.Linq;
using System.Linq;
                    
public class Program
{
    public class Container
    {
        public Base Base { get; set; }
    }
    
    public class Base
    {
        public int JustSomePropInBase { get; set; }
    }
    
    public class Derived : Base
    {
        public int JustSomePropInDerived { get; set; }
    }
    
    public void Main()
    {
        var sampleObject = new Container { Base = new Derived() };
        var allTypes = new[] { typeof(Container), typeof(Base), typeof(Derived) };
        
        Console.WriteLine("Trying to serialize without a derived class metadata:");
        SetupSerializers(allTypes.Except(new[] { typeof(Derived) }).ToArray());
        try
        {
            Serialize(sampleObject);
        }
        catch (InvalidOperationException e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine("This error was anticipated,");
            Console.WriteLine("we have not supplied a derived class.");
            Console.WriteLine(e);
        }
        Console.WriteLine("Now trying to serialize with all of the type information:");
        SetupSerializers(allTypes);
        Serialize(sampleObject);
        Console.WriteLine();
        Console.WriteLine("Slides down well this time!");
    }

    static void Serialize<T>(T o)
    {
        serializerDictionary[typeof(T)].Serialize(Console.Out, o);
    }

    private static Dictionary<Type, XmlSerializer> serializerDictionary;
    
    static void SetupSerializers(Type[] allTypes)
    {
        var allSerializers = XmlSerializer.FromTypes(allTypes);
        serializerDictionary = Enumerable.Range(0, allTypes.Length)
            .ToDictionary(i => allTypes[i], i => allSerializers[i]);
    }
}

Trying to serialize without a derived class metadata:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<Container xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
This error was anticipated,
we have not supplied a derived class.
System.InvalidOperationException: There was an error generating the XML document. ---> System.InvalidOperationException: The type Program+Derived was not expected. Use the XmlInclude or SoapInclude attribute to specify types that are not known statically.
   at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationWriter1.Write2_Base(String n, String ns, Base o, Boolean isNullable, Boolean needType)
   at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationWriter1.Write3_Container(String n, String ns, Container o, Boolean isNullable, Boolean needType)
   at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationWriter1.Write4_Container(Object o)
   at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Serialize(XmlWriter xmlWriter, Object o, XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces, String encodingStyle, String id)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Serialize(XmlWriter xmlWriter, Object o, XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces, String encodingStyle, String id)
   at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Serialize(XmlWriter xmlWriter, Object o, XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces, String encodingStyle)
   at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Serialize(XmlWriter xmlWriter, Object o, XmlSerializerNamespaces namespaces)
   at Program.Serialize[T](T o)
   at Program.Main()
Now trying to serialize with all of the type information:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<Container xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <Base xsi:type="Derived">
    <JustSomePropInBase>0</JustSomePropInBase>
    <JustSomePropInDerived>0</JustSomePropInDerived>
  </Base>
</Container>
Slides down well this time!