I think the breed is less important than the integration with your pack.

And, when it comes characteristics, I think integration with your lifestyle and situation is probably most important.

For example, not everyone's lifestyle is conducive to providing the exercise level and mental stimulation of some breeds.

The gotcha is this can be a mixed bag. For example, we have a rescued Rottweiler, who is really mellow which makes her easy to live with. But... When we go hiking, she seems to feel we are on a death march, where our Chesapeake Bay Retriever, who is a high energy (and needs a lot of exercise and stimulation) is all perky and ready for any adventure.

All of our dogs have been good watch dogs and IMO this is one of the most beneficial characteristics. Personally, I think it is ultimately the human's role to provide for the defense of the pack, but the dog provides a huge advantage in terms deterrence, of threat detection and distraction to allow for humans to get up to speed.

Some dogs can provide a role in actual defense, but I think it takes either some very specific personality traits, or training, or both. I think many dogs, despite issuing serious verbal warnings, ultimately defer to humans as superior and are unlikely to *fully commit* to defense against a human.

Defense against other animals is a lot more common.

Of course, typically guarding behavior is pretty much the opposite of getting along well with others (outside of your pack) if you are traveling.

In regard to traveling well, I think this all comes down to practice. If you take your dog everywhere and let it experience lots of different things and places from the time it was a pup, it will probably travel well. If it stays at home almost all the time, probably not.

In the end, I'm pretty open to most working breeds, and I think dogs are most happy when they have a job -- even if it is retrieving the ball and working dogs even more so.

I don't really mean to dodge your question, but I think both of the breeds you have are pretty good candidates given proper socialization and training and exposure.

The reality is there are always trade offs, and each dog is an individual, but most dogs will provide you the invaluable service of making sure you know something is going on in your house or camp, and most dogs, well socialized and trained and integrated with your pack, will enrich your lives.

-john