I got my two girls as puppies and couldn't be happier!
I waited until I found a breeder that wasn't a hoity toity 'my dogs are 3000$ from the purest german blood-line' person with documents longer than an average lease to even be considered (much respect to that, but i'm not looking to go to shows or breed them), or a person who's just looking to get rid of the puppies because they had an accident or they have a straight up puppy farm. Gotta look for the happy medium.
There was one breeder here (highly respectable and I took a few of her classes) where the papers you had to sign actually had it so she would go through your house annually for an inspection, and if it wasn't to her code she would take the dog back... On a level I understand the love and responsibility she has for the puppies, but that seemed a bit much.
All the rescues here spay/neuter puppies as soon as they get them (i've seen as young as 4wk old puppies done.... AHHHH). The lady that runs it even stopped me on the street with my GSD (who was about 2 months old at the time) and gave me a lecture about how I wasn't spaying her immediately (I'm like... calm down Bertha, she's got a long ways before her first heat).
My advice would be to find that happy medium breeder (in my case, the owner wanted to have a litter from her favourite dog before she was spayed). Spend time with the puppies if you can and try and read the dogs. You can usually tell which ones will be the barkers and you can get a basic idea on their energy levels. It's usually obvious while watching the litter interact to see who the bullies are and which ones are more on the docile side.
Even if their docile, they'll still have that crappy puppy-teenage-dog phase where they're always challenging you and seeing what they can get away with. It's very fun and it's the most rewarding challenge. Though you'd definitely need a solid living situation. It's a 10+ year commitment so you have to be ready for anything that comes your way, you should always have fall-back plans. A buddy of mine recently got a dog, soon after things fell out with his job and he had to move to another town where none of the rentals allowed pets, so he had to give away his dog. Very heartbreaking!