I am wondering if a CAO would be a suitable choice. I live on 100 acre bush block next to 400 acres of state forest. This in turn is surrounded by 1000's of acres of state forest, well tens of thousands really with small amounts of private property mixed in. I have no livestock. I am after a dog to protect me as I walk around and fossick for gold. I have only lived here for a year and a half and have been told by local people that the feral dogs are large and aggressive. I have seen them when driving around and they appear the size of a GSD but shorter in the body. A woodcutter told me about one in the state forest near me twice the size of a GSD that came up to his 4WD growling.

My Bullarab died last August after he killed a platypus and it stung him on the throat. The vet could not save him. He took 4 days to die. On day two I was coming out of the bush and spotted two feral dogs running off Dingo colouring but much larger than a dingo. It appeared that they were tracking me and my dog. I asked a CAO breeder who also breeds ASD for livestock guardian work and they thought this was probably the case. I bought an Akita from the pound one month after my Bullarab died. He is about 3 years old. He has HD can get around OK but cant run very fast. He has a gentle temperament and is dog and human friendly. I have owned a fierce male Akita and he is nothing like this.

I have been told to get a CAO bitch by the breeder as a male would push him around too much. The CAO breeder thought that a CAO would be a better choice than an ASD on feral dogs.

I don't know how well a CAO would bond with me. In Australia the choice of breeds is limited. I don't like AB's as the one I had was bad around cattle. There are scrub cattle around so I'd rather go with a LGD. Anyone have some thoughts on whether a LGD would function as a gold fossicker's protector from feral dogs?