It is important for an owner to quickly establish a hierarchy in which they are the dog's pack leader, otherwise the young ACD may bond to a senior dog, rather than to its owner. As an urban pet, if the young ACD is allowed to bond too strongly with some senior dog in the neighbourhood, it can be very difficult for the owner to then establish control. With unknown dogs, particularly males, the ACD can be aggressive and fearless.

Another tendency inherent from the Dingo is foraging. An ACD will typically dig up and devour fungi, eat fallen fruit, pull down bunches of bananas and expertly skin them, nip neat holes in passion fruit to extract the interior and sit under a Flame Tree or a tropical Fig Tree eating the left-overs dropped by White Cockatoos and Fruit Bats. It is probable that a ACD kept as a house pet benefits by a high proportion of vegetable matter in their diet. Because of their tendency to shred things and to rip off "skins" such as upolstery fabrics to get at the innards, the ideal bedding material for an ACD is straw, combined with a few rags so that they can happily arrange their own bed, without inciting the ire of the owner.