Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers

I don't have a purebred as of yet, but I do have a Toller/Border Collie mix. I've loved the breed ever since I can remember (atleast 10 years now, probably more) and can hardly wait to finally have a purebred of my own soon! They truly are awesome dogs. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them for you. I've spent quite a bit of time around them as a few friends have one or more and I often visit different breeders and their Tollers at shows and such.

Since this is a Toller thread, I hope you don't mind, but I thought I'd add a few Toller pictures I took at a dog show this past weekend:

Me?  Mind pictures?  Never!  []

Well I have 2 mutts right now that I do agility with and I LOVE doing agility.  I keep thinking about my next agility dog and have seen Tollers doing agility.  And the thing that draws me to them is their high drive desires much like a BC, but with a retrieving instinct instead of the herding.  I love BC's but I think a Toller might fit with us better for the almost guaranteed retrieving instinct.  Some BC's do, some don't.  []    I'd like to make contact with a breeder or two and get a feel for waiting lists, costs, etc but I'm looking at 3 years or so before I can buy a pup.  (Need to decrease the number of legs in our house first!)

So anything you want to share about their personalities, quirks, needs, etc, I would love to hear it.  []

Edited: And feel free to post more pictures!!! 

Not sure if you've ever seen this, but here is a link to the top 10 reasons not to get a Toller:
[linkhttp://ca.geocities.com/ontoller@rogers.com/DoNOTBuy.html]http://ca.geocities.com/ontoller@rogers.com/DoNOTBuy.html[/link]
 
 
Now, I'm not sure whether you have a cat or not but just incase you do...this says Tollers cannot live with a cat. However, most of the Tollers I personally know DO live with cats and do just fine, of course, as with any dog it wouldn't be a great idea to leave the Toller and the cat together, unsupervised...but a Toller & cat relationship can and does work. Anyway, as was said in the above quote, Tollers are high energy, high drive dogs. They need something to do, or else they will find a way to amuse/entertain themselves. They can become destructive and barky if not stimulated enough each day. They are very comparable to that of an Australian Shepherd or a Border Collie, but like you said, they retrieve instead of herd. Energy wise, they're a tiny bit less intense than a Border. They require a lot of exercise, but they will lay down in the house while you want to watch TV or something. I have a Toller/Border Collie, as I've already stated. She gets 2 jogs a day, aswell as a walk which ends up in a romp/play/run/obedience practice aswell in a nearby field. Now, they don't neccessarily NEED 2 jogs a day, that is jus something I like to do. next year I'll also be starting agility with her. Tollers do need atleast an hour (preferably more) of playing/retrieving each day aswell as mental stimulation. Tollers love to work, they love to please. However, that being said, they do get bored if you repeatedly do the same thing over and over again and they thrive on learning new things. Tollers can also be pretty stubborn and often their intelligence can do more harm than good...they're almost too intelligent for their own good (again, much like that of a Border Collie). Owning a Toller is like having a 2 year old child for 12-14 years. Tollers MUST be socialized tons and it is extremely wise to take them to puppy classes and atleast one obedience class. If not, they can become very fearful around new things and I've known a few to become fear biters and barkers due to lack of socialization as a young pup. Socializing has to continue for the rest of the dogs' life aswell, not just as a pup as I'm sure you knwo since you alreayd have dogs of your own. Tollers love to be with their family. I find that they in general, much prefer people over other dogs. They don't like to be left alone for long periods of time and do develop separation anxiety, but lots of breeds are like this. Other than that, at the moment I can't really think of anything to tell you as most of what I was going to say is in the "Top 10 Reasons not to get a Toller" link. But, if after all of this, you still have any specific questions that I haven't covered and you would like to know, I'd be glad to help

I'm curious about the Toller scream.  And I've read the Top 10 before and it hasn't scared me away. 

I run an agility club in my town and compete with 2 of my dogs, so he/she would definitely have a job to do.    And plenty of socialization as well.  And none of what is on the Top 10 is scary at all.  Well except maybe the scream part but I have a constant high pitched barker now.  Taught him quiet and he usually does, unless it's a visitor at the door.  [8|]   And Tasha is our big shedder.  I was pulling out tufts of fur this summer and the dust bunnies... he he... our joke is that we have extra dogs in the house.  []  All of our dogs are inside dogs and get crated or confined to a room when we're not home.   I feel ready for a new puppy but my BF has decreed that the number of legs in the house must decrease before we can add more.  This will be 3 years or more as our oldest is 8 and she's a small dog.    It's probably going to be a while yet.  Plus I just started a new job so I can't be asking to bring in a puppy just yet.  []

Thank you for answering my questions!

If Border Collies and Aussies don't scare ya, probably Tollers won't either.  I have had some come through classes, and they have either been great, or they have been totally wary of anyone not in their family.  If you want to compete with one, my advice is to get going on training and socialization at 8 weeks of age.
Sue Van Sloun in Westport, MA, is the Breeder Referral contact for the national club.  She can give you the names of good breeders.

Lol...yeah, the top 10 reasons thing really isn't scarey at all for most people...I just posted it because it is full of information. As far as the scream goes, it is extremely high pitched. Pretty annoying too, and is the only thing I don't particularly enjoy about the breed...but I can live with it. They really only scream when they're excited or anxious about something, and quiet can work, but just make sure your dog can focus on you easily. A lot of times Tollers are much too focused on what they're screaming about to bother being quiet. It can be controlled though, just takes time, effort, and training.
 
Here is something I found a long time ago on a google search, it has video clips of what the scream sounds like. Some dogs are worse than this, some aren't so bad:
[linkhttp://web.ncf.ca/aj340/scream.html]http://web.ncf.ca/aj340/scream.html[/link]