I'm coming from a performance dog background so my opinion is probably retarded to some, but I've found it has translated well to working dogs (so far anyway). Assuming the pups are equal physically (no bite problems, balanced, etc) To me having an open mind is the biggest thing ... if you go in with the attitude that you HAVE to have a male/female, the smallest/biggest one, a certain color, coat etc you will ignore other pups that might be perfect for you and have more important qualities if you would look at them all equally as if they were naked. Go more than just once, I personally like