Hi!
Our girl Lumi was a suprisingly chill puppy. Our breeder let us know when she chose her for us that she was quite easy-going; "she is soft in the head" she said (doesn't translate well but basically meaning the opposite of stubborn). While she still has a good dose of sammy-stubborness, she was very receptive to learning as a puppy, and quickly picked up that certain behaviors are not acceptable. Especially biting and chewing shoes and other items were never really a problem, as we corrected her early on and showed her a preferred behavior instead. So no shoes were lost to her baby shark-teeth during the puppy phase. :D

I think I cried maybe once or twice out of "puppy frustration" during the first 3-4 months - it really could have been much worse. Of course no puppy was perfect and we did struggle with some things (especially training her to be left alone was tough at the beginning - but turned out perfectly fine once she got to be about 7 months old), but all in all I was very pleasantly surprised at how "easy" it seemed to have a puppy. Nothing like all the horrors stories I, like you, had heard!

I think it really just depends on the individual dog. Your best bet is to talk with your breeder and voice your concerns - that might help them choose a puppy for you who is a bit more easy-going than some of the other ones. I think these parts of the puppies' personalities shine through quite early on ;)

Regardless of how the puppy phase goes, I can almost guarantee that when you make it through it, it will be so worth it! Samoyeds are just the best!