Welcome on board..Very good questions, and very loaded subject..
There is a book of information in Stratics, taming A-Z sticky, and also the uo website under The new Taming etc. But here is a tiny little bit of information:
It depends on the pet, and what you intend to use it for, what mobs you will be fighting etc. Some examples :
For instance it makes a difference in Cu Sidhe if the fresh tame has 504 HPS, vs has 598-600 HPS, plus it is good for dogs NOT to have overcapped cold resist or energy resist, so cold/enerrgy would be good at 70-75/70-80 or so. Having more initial HPS translates in having that many more points available X3..(that is a lot . of training points to use on something, and having a 70/70 Cold/Energy res dog, neans that it will be possible to set resists the best possible way you see fit, e.g. 75/75/75/75/75 etc..
For a Najasaurus, desirable init. high stats include Dex to 200 if poss., high magic resist like 160, good HPS like 780-800, and 2 slots, not 3.
Fire steeds have some overcaps in magic resistance like 105 etc, but even those 5 points count.
Many others..too many to put in a single post.
Each pet has some desirable initial stats to look for. There are many trainable pets with the taming revamp.
@Khaelor has done a fantastic job in listing pets and their best stats to look for. Look up his name in here, and go to his website and you will see.
@Pawain has put in here a step-by-step, with pictures training dogs at different specialties.
Just don't get overwhelmed. Go slowly and learn as you go along.
GDs spawn as 5 slots most of the time, and so do Frost Dragons, but there are pple that said they have seen 4 slot Frost Dragons. Frost Dragons come with overcaps in several skills and are also good to use, as well as GD's just to start, and if there is no chance to get power scrolls, especially since you can train a fire beetle or a blue beetle nowdays and make it good enough to stand toe-to-toe with greater dragons and Frosties.
Also : If you are a returning tamer and have old pets ( nightmares, White Wyrms, 2-slot Bakes, **Dread Mares, and ***Bane Dragons especially), do not train any of these till you have mastered the new taming system, and if you decide to sell any of them, check the prices in HERE, not in game as you will be likely to lose MANY millions in uo gold.
Finally, dont be afraid or embarassed to ask any questions here. I think you will find very useful recommendations that will save you time and gold.
I doubt that you will find a better community on the web than here.
I hope this helps a little bit.
GL and Merry Xmas.
