Yeah, basically you're doing what I'm doing now (I just started playing again). Start with the Ape and teach it lots of stuff on some of the well-constructed custom maps on this site. If you train it well now, according to how you'd like it to behave once you start getting into the actual storyline, it'll pay off immensely later. Use the breeder on Land 1 to switch to one of the unlockable creatures or the Sheep if you can manage to find all of the darned things.