When making my character, I usually look at what I want their personality to be first. Don't really know why, but that's my process for any character I make, whether it be for personal narration or role-play. Then, I decide what breed I want to be. In selecting a breed, I sometimes exaggerate on their height depending on the breed if its a fantasy role-play I'm in. I often take into the color scheme of my character in other terms also. For example, I'll make a light brown wolf with a darker under-pelt. I have a muse for this pattern with my characters, I've grown to like it. Although, I don't do it as often as I used to because I don't like to have over two characters with the same color pattern.
I rarely make any character with abnormal colors like a green cat or anything in that nature, even for a fantasy role-play. I usually like to make those kinds of colors in the norm of neon or highlight to be more faded or blended over while the main color overshadows it.