The most important thing is to make sure that the parents of the pup have a clean bill of health, a lot of responsible breeders have their breeding dogs thoroughly checked out for things like hip dysplasia and joint problems. The second is to actually meet the puppies parents, make sure they are good sociable dogs.
If you want to get a cat with your dog I'd suggest do it early, animals tend to do a lot better with one another when they've been introduced to each other very early, which is why it's very important to get your dog out and socialized with everything (once it has it's first two shots anyways, three shots is safer).
As for the time away from home, that's a really long time for a young dog to be left alone. They generally don't have a lot of control of their peeing and pooing needs, while my adult dog only really needs to go out two-three times a day, puppies need to go out after everything. I mean everything, when they eat, when they wake up, after they play, before they sleep, all the time.
If you are going to have to be away that long I'd suggest trying to look for an older dog to adopt. Puppies need a lot of attention, so if you can't provide that I would definitely go the older dog route. Hope that helps.
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