“How do I consider what sex would best fit into my home”?  While deciding, consider the following :

Females:
I have different kinds of buyers.  Many love female dogs and have always owned females, while others prefer males.  Then there are buyers who are open to either sex and want to discuss which sex might best be suited to them.  Both sexes are loving, attentive and interact with other animals in the house. 

We do, however, need to consider the alpha female dog.  These girls are strong and overconfident.  They quickly establish a pecking order and insist that it be followed. In my experience, the alpha works hard to please the humans in her life.  Unfortunately, you will not know you have an alpha female until she is more than four months old.  If you want to have more than one dog in the house, and a female is already in residence, I advise that the next addition be a male.  You will find this a more harmonious relationship because of the easy going personality traits in males.  They just don’t care!

Males:
I can’t say enough about males and most breeders think the same!  They are just easy going pals. I always tell people that my boys wait to see if they can breathe for me.  The most common complaint offered in favor of a girl is that “boys hump”.   This sends me into laughter because girls hump as well. Humping is a fact of nature and if your pets are handled correctly, it stops in both sexes. I also hear “But boys lift their legs”.  Have you ever watched a girl go down a lawn? They pee every foot or so - same thing as males, but a different style.  I will, however, say that boys can be trained to a potty location, while girls can not.  Girls will always pee at random, but once trained to your “chosen’ spot, boys will head for it right out the door. I advise neutering males young and he often will squat all his life.

I have owned five different breeds of dogs during my 40 years of breeding.  I am basing the above critique on those breeds.  Females will fight each other and so will males.  Breeders notice more of this since we keep our dog unaltered which of course causes males to get upset with each other when a girl is in season or girls to fight when they are in season.  This goes with the territory and I don’t “label” this as a personality quirk associated with a dogs sex.  I am sure there are some breeds that might show very strong differences between the males and females, but for the Schnauzer and Poodle breeds, the above information applies to my day to day experience.

Neutering or Spaying:
This is critical for the health and well being of your pet, no matter which sex you choose.  If not used for breeding, unaltered boys and girls are more susceptible to health issues including cancer. Research clearly demonstrates that neutering and spaying lengthens the life of your pet. Girls come into their season about 6-8 months of age and every 6 months thereafter.  It lasts 2 weeks and includes bleeding which will be everywhere your little girl sits or lays down.  You will have every male dog in the neighborhood camped on your front lawn!
Current research suggests spay/neuter is best carried out at 5-5 1/2 months.