I don't know if they were actually mean, or just trained to be noisy and act like they were. Either way, I know they'd raise holy hell at the window whenever I walked past it. They might've been thinking "hey Dad, it's so fun to bark at people! Look at how big I'm smiling!" for all I know.

They'll get that hair on you, and you'll never get it off of yourself. Better to leave them well alone.

Not normally, but temperament depends on a lot of things. I've read that socialization and temperament of the dog's parents are important.