Australian Bandog

   As I read I'm I keep wondering what your breeding for, as in what function is the dog supposed to serve? A lead in catch dog I assume since the dogs lineage you got from Australia was that of lead in catch dogs. Your interested in retarding the size of your dog because you believe it will better suit the function of the type cd dog your going for. Your here in America where the lead in CD is king and has been perfected as much as the dogs the box trade hunters of Australia use. Notice I said the box trade hunters, not the common pig dogger using the Arabs and that style of dog.
   It doesn't really get any better than a pit to do lead in work. Anything crossed to a pit for such work as you said yourself takes away from the pit. So begs the question, what function are you trying to perform? Your obviously wanting to improve upon something but all the breeds you have mentioned in crossing to serve no better purpose at catching pigs than the pit so why cross to them? Form follows function, you want to breed the best but the function is not defined. You've brought a lead in cd from Australia to America where the lead in is King. Your throwing darts at this Aussie lead in to better it on top of that without a stated function in mind and all about the form. Friend, your putting the cart before the horse here. Or rather the form before a function I'm not sure you have even give much thought to.
   My advice is first choose a function. Then study the breeds and what made them the best at what they did. Actually study and get real hands on experience with these breeds to see for yourself and prove the form follows function to yourself before starting this endeavour. When you really really get to testing and finding out about dog breeds and the attributes of them, what some breed a excel at while others can't even get lucky and do, then you will have a clue as to what your doing. If you want to breed for lead ins, these are the people and the forum to be on. If your wanting a different type functioning cd, don't go to dairy queen asking how to make wedding cakes. Hope this helps somewhat