Why don't you all actually reply to the original poster instead of turning this into a debate on how fast you can reach level 10. A new player coming in, which if the OP is considering downloading the trial is the case, leveling to 10 will not take just an hour, but more then likely several. It's people like most of those that replied to this post already that about ruined WoW for me the first day I played.
As for the OP, I really enjoy playing my Orc hunter alt, it was my first character, after deleting my original Ally hunter after being harassed to no end by other players wanting to duel, and my main well into the 60's. Have moved over from EQ where I played a ranger for several years, I was at first shocked at the differences, but they are easy enough to play at the begining that those differences quickly became unnoticed. I found the hunter easy to learn to play WoW with as did my wife when she started playing.
AS stated before before lvl 10 you won'y have a pet, but once you finish the quest chain at 10 you will be able to tame one. Up to level 20 choice of pet really don't matter much as most of them will be pretty much the same. At 20 pets start to get talents which will make each individual pet unique.
http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/ is one of the best sites for hunter pet information, and should answer most of your pet related questions.