I don't usually pay attention to the descriptions that much, mostly just the hair/fur color/pattern to try and get portraits to match as best I can. 'cause I just feel like it.
Honestly, I look at their Beauty and Race, and that's pretty much it when deciding if I want 'em.
+1 to the catching beasts idea. It's actually part of my original post, more or less. I was thinking of the option to catch ANYTHING (wolves, bears, slimes, wyverns, etc.) with specialized capture items (bear traps, heavy rope, chains, etc.) and use them as guards or even just decoration to say "I've got pet dragons just 'cause I can. What about you?"