Well, to this point my dogs have not had to fight off wild animals per say. I did send my one dog out to gather the sheep when I came home one day and found a coyote eating apples from the apple tree and he was right beside my flock of sheep (within a few feet of them grazing). Stupid sheep didn't even notice the coyote.....and nothing I could do from a distance had the coyote leaving...so I sent my dog out. Immediately the sheep gathered together and she brought them in and the coyote took off. I have NO doubt my dogs would chase off any preditor and stray dog from the herd they are working. That was/is part of thier job. What you want however is for them to chase them away and then come back to the flock. Freinds of mine have talked about this happening with stray dogs. Thier dogs working thier flocks will chase off a stray and then come back to work the flock.

The dog/breed you saw and are referring to are 'guardian' dogs. Thse dogs do not herd but they are there to protect. They are brought up as very young pups to be a 'sheep' and part of the flock. THier breeding/instincts are to guard thier 'charges' from any danger. They never 'work' the sheep or hurt them. These dogs/breeds are usually very low in prey drive and higher in defence. They are also often not the greatest with people as they generally have NOT been socialized with people...only the flock they are guarding.

Some guardian breeds are freindlier/more social than others. A lot depends on the breed and what they were bred for and how they were brought up. I did an instinct test at a facility where they had a guardian dog. The owners had tied him up while people were coming and going with thier dogs to be tested on the sheep. They were told to stay away from the guardian dog. One person with a rottwieler walked too close to the dog and he jumped it and took it to the ground in one quick movment. It did not 'hurt' the dog thankfully but scared it and the owner!!!! People respected it more after that.

For me the clue in what the breeders says is the one is more "independant", it doesn't mean the other is a wilting wall flower,it means the independant one may be just that, headstrong and a little harder to train for a novice handler, if you have a strong character and are sure about your handling skills, than choose this one, if in any doubt take the other, the independant one is going to challenge you every single day, it is never going to be ok with just a No, it will be NO NO NO, so if you think you are disciplined enough to deal with a headstrong pup
then this will be the one for you, I personally would never recommend this type of pup for a new handler, unless I know that person's got the right attitude and personality to handle it, otherwise it ends up on the rehoming merry go round. Be honest with what you think you can handle, afterall you have a big committment ahead of you, all the best with what you choose.