I always looked for HP first, then resists. stats can be worked up with training.

I had a Hiryu that had 533 HP, pretty nice in my book, but one day I took him out and he had eternally lowered to 477. That was 1 less hit he can take. I ended up getting a new one with over 500. It really sucked cause he was one of the first big pets I had tamed, right after SE came out and he was a cool blue color. and was almost 4xGM and great resists. The perfect Hiryu in my opinion.