Years ago, when I first heard of this breed, my initial thought was that this is the only breed whose name is also its résumé. After saying that the breed is from Nova Scotia and that it tolls and retrieves ducks, what else is there to say?

Plenty!

The toller comes very close to being the perfect canine companion for today's all-around marshes and meadows slogger, the person who hunts every bird the game laws in his area allow. The toller can rip through nasty cover with flashy style and tireless endurance, flushing and retrieving upland birds. He can sit quietly beside a duck or goose blind, and he can break ice when necessary to retrieve shot birds.

He can sit quietly in a boat or even a canoe, taking up very little space, exiting and entering gracefully to retrieve shot birds. He can sneak along at heel when the boss decides to jump-shoot waterfowl. Wherever he hunts, he can mark and remember falls with uncanny accuracy.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot: He can also toll ducks (and geese). See the second sidebar for information on tolling

Then, too, as the name indicates, the toller hails from Nova Scotia. However, over the years he has become an international star, having been exported not only to USA, but also to various other countries around the world. And wherever he has gone, he seems to be performing quite well, thank you.

Clearly, the name, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, is not the breed's complete résumé. Not even close. In fact, it's a masterpiece of misleadingly modest understatement.

To help me present this multi-talented breed properly, I interviewed four long-time toller experts: Katie Dugger, Sue Dorscheid, Alison Strang, and Glen White. See the first sidebar for background information on these knowledgeable folks.

Physically
When you first see a toller, you might think it's a miniature golden retriever, except for the few flashy white points, perhaps on the chest, feet, and tail. A white tip to the tail is highly prized by those who use these dogs for tolling, because when swished around it attracts the attention of rafted ducks.

Tollers stand about 17 inches to 21 inches and weigh 35 to 50 pounds, a nice size for today's hunting conditions. The double coat has a harsh water-repellent outercoat overlaying a dense wooly undercoat. The color can be anything from light gold to coppery red.

The toller is a bouncy, high-energy animal with amazing stamina. These traits make him a great upland game finder/flusher/retriever. In style, the breed rivals the English springer. In endurance, it excels most sporting breeds.

Temperament
Never has the adage, you can't judge a book by its cover, been more true than in the case of the toller. He may look like a miniature golden, but inside, that is, under the hood, the two breeds are quite distinct. And this reflects poorly on neither breed. Different people developed the two breeds under different circumstances and for different purposes.

The golden was developed on the British Isles by the landed gentry, who had huge estates on which to hunt. These aristocrats also had hired gamekeepers to manage their estates and train their dogs. Not surprisingly, the golden is a "trainer's dog," that is, a breed that responds well to the repetitive drilling that extensive formal training requires.

The toller was developed in rugged Nova Scotia by early Scottish immigrants, a hardy people who were scratching out a difficult living, struggling to survive in a strange new land. They developed the toller as a "hunter's dog," that is, a breed that does most of what the owner wants done naturally, with very little formal training beyond basic obedience.