Tollers as we know them today were developed in the rugged community of Little River Harbour in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, around the beginning of the 19th century. For obvious reasons, the breed in its early days was known as the Little River Duck Dog, or Yarmouth Toller.

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers were developed by early Scottish immigrants, a hardy people scratching out a difficult living in a strange new land. They developed their breed as a “hunter’s dog,” a breed that did most of what the owner wanted done with very little formal training beyond basic obedience, and they looked no further than nature to develop a unique hunting style.

In nature, a fox will cavort and play along a shoreline to entice waterfowl to come closer to investigate. Curious birds oblige and become easy prey for the fox. Drawing from this behavior, hunters trained their dogs to mimic the fox, a behavior that Tollers haven’t lost over time. The dog runs and jumps along the shoreline in full view of ducks, occasionally disappearing and reappearing. The hunter encourages this by throwing sticks and rocks very close along the shore so that the dog will skirt the waterline (a wayward throw may land in the water, but it isn’t the intent for the dog to swim to retrieve them).  The dog’s playful actions arouse the curiosity of the ducks who are lured within gunshot range. The Toller is subsequently sent out to retrieve the dead or wounded birds. As far as we can tell, the only thing the dog doesn’t do in this entire process pull the trigger and cook the bird.

Photo of  “Emmet” taken by Beth Adams in 2014 at the NSDTRC-USA National Specialty. Emmet will turn 13 on Christmas Eve of 2023.
http://www.candidcaninephoto.com/