Adaption in Dandelions

My least favorite weed.  My tactic is to bend over and pluck them up by the roots. No herbicides.  So much of my lawn is greenery other than grass, I fear that weedkiller will  give me vast barren patches.  Druther have green weeds than bare dirt.
   I start early and pluck each yellow blossom as I see it.  I figure the early plucking prevents the early weeds from reproducing and overwhelming the poor grass.  My lawn has fewer dandelions than many of my neighbors.
  Ever notice that the dandelions sprouting in the woods, back of the house, edge of the driveway grow tall and proud and you can get your hand around them and pluck 'em easy.  Whereas the ones in the path of the mower grown really low down to the ground and are harder to pluck?  How does a newly sprouted dandelion know how low to grow?    I mean these are annuals.  Even if a dandelion was smart enough to remember the mower, these are newly sprouted just this season.  No over winter memory.  The low growers were growing low before the first mow of the season.