Dominant or submissive

Small or large

Short hair or long hair

Breed selection

Finding the right puppy

dominant or submissive

A family or companion dog should be confident, but not dominant.  In a litter,  the one that rushes over to greet you and is always the puppy biting at the others is dominant.  If you have an assertive personality, this pup may be your best choice.   The pup not biting anybody and is always being pushed to the back is submissive. Probably an excellent choice for a calm household with no children and a regular routine.  One of the pups in the middle is the best choice for most families - willing to play and investigate, but not rushing out to greet you. 

small or large

The more unusual looking the dog, the more likely it will have problems.  Dogs with pushed-in faces have face problems.  Dogs with wrinkled skin that hangs in folds will have skin problems. Itsy bitsy little dogs have problems, huge dogs have problems.  If you get a really unusual looking dog, you will have far more problems. For the best chance of picking a trouble-free, low maintenance dog, try to stay somewhere between the size of  Miniature Poodle and  Labrador Retriever.  

short hair or long hair

Hair length is mostly a matter of personal preference, but in El Dorado County, unless you spend a lot of time grooming,  long haired dogs must be trimmed down to the skin twice a year to keep foxtails from burrowing into their bodies. 

breed selection

The most trouble-free dog is likely to be a mixed breed with short to medium length hair having an adult weight between ten and fifty pounds.  Buying a dog of a particular breed gives you an excellent idea what a dog will look like, but only a fuzzy idea how he will behave.  There is much more variation in behavior between individuals than between breeds.