Thread: Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever

Met one of these yesterday. Very rare in NZ apparently. Beautiful dog, was very at ease with us. Great personality.

https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/nova-...ing-retriever/

I was fascinated to hear how these dogs are used to lure ducks into the hunter. Amazing really.

Unfortunately this dog doesn’t get to do much duckhunting but it is exceptionally good at cutting urban pigeons apparently…

pretty cool dogs alright.
post #2669 in game bird diary for all has a picture of a toller used for hunting

Long haired so not ideal as a house dog.

The gene pool here will be as shallow as a shallow thing when the tides out , so inbreeding is a real probability.

But an interesting breed , if you are so inclined

Originally Posted by Fee Knicks

Long haired so not ideal as a house dog.

The gene pool here will be as shallow as a shallow thing when the tides out , so inbreeding is a real probability.

But an interesting breed , if you are so inclined

Wow. What side of bed did you get out of this morning?

just being a realist.

Gene pool is shallow, however no NZ bred Tollers have been bred together to date. They are all imports, bred to imports or bred with imported semen.

As to coat length, there is a variety of coat lengths in the breed.

I happen to own a fairly long coated Toller and yes there is a fair bit of fur around when she blows her coat in the spring however it is no worse than any other indoor dog and in some ways easier as it is the under coat that sheds which is closer to wool than hair.

It is a shame that more aren't hunted over. To the best of my knowledge only 4 in NZ with another about to come of age. I suspect however the majority of all gundog breeds never get to hunt.

if folks who own them allowed them to breed with other dogs...without charging more than the working girls on queen street....non papered mongrels get it free of charge.... the breed would get more traction,all be it watered down...catch 22

@7mm tragic, what you said about breeding practices in NZ is exactly what we were told by this dog’s owner yesterday. Very carefully planned breeding within a small community locally, involving imported semen. I’m wondering if you know our mate? The clue being that he is permanently in a wheelchair. His dog is six years old and when they acquired it as a pup there was only a couple of kennels in the country specialising in this breed. He said that now there’s half a dozen or so. He got his dog from Glenfyre kennels in Wellington. Very expensive!

Bit of a tricky one that MD. All breeds were mongrels as some point. Unlikely the owner of a bitch would deliberately step outside the breed but the owner of a dog might, trouble is there are only 2 or 3 intact dogs I know of and their owners are very unlikely to agree to your suggestion.

One of the problems is that the majority of breeders are focused on showing as apposed to hunting. Lets just say that they see things differently.

"differently" is a very polite way of putting it.
classic EG of the difference is the KC breed the "NZ Huntaway".....as eluded to in another post..thats a job discription not a breed.

I have a wonderful talented bitch here of mixed genetics...half GWP quarter collie quarter labrador...one day we will get pups from her so keep the good instinct going,will look for a smaller dog of proven hunting lines,cocker spaniel is option,the welsh springer is another...time will tell if we can find suitable dog for long romantic walk on the beach.

@Flyblown I don't know him but his dog will be from the same litter as mine. It was the first litter born in NZ for around 20 years. I'll know of the dog but I don't know all the owners. When there was only 40 odd is was easy enough to keep track, not so easy now. I don't suppose you remember the dogs name?

Originally Posted by 7mm tragic

@Flyblown I don't know him but his dog will be from the same litter as mine. It was the first litter born in NZ for around 20 years. I'll know of the dog but I don't know all the owners. When there was only 40 odd is was easy enough to keep track, not so easy now. I don't suppose you remember the dogs name?

Ha! Small world.

The dog’s name is Atlas.

Ah yes, Atlas. We all had to name our dogs with names beginning with 'A' So we ended up with Abracadbra on her piece of paper. You'll be pleased to know she does have a more suitable call name.

Originally Posted by 7mm tragic

Ah yes, Atlas. We all had to name our dogs with names beginning with 'A' So we ended up with Abracadbra on her piece of paper. You'll be pleased to know she does have a more suitable call name.

Tada ...perhaps???

My manager has two of these. She had one litter about a year ago, and was exceptionally picky when it came to the genetics for breeding, and she won't be doing subsequent litters. Her second one is one of the litter she kept. Her girls are used for showing, but I know at least one of her litter has gone to a hunting home and is apparently coming along nicely. Beautiful dogs.