anyone have any experience with these dogs? just looking for some info

Think about it dis way neg',,,,if the dog can make the ducks come,,,every coon ass down the bayou would have 4 of them...

don't know what you mean by neg . . . and i'm not asking for a magical duck dog who attracts ducks ha . . . im asking about retrieving ability, how trainable they are, and how they are in homes, etc. . .

[quote="duckman22"]don't know what you mean by neg . . .
It's the most recent MMT "coonass" or "cajun" (don't want to offend the Acadians) buzz word. They been saying it for years

cool deal - so now that i'm up on my "coonass" slang, anyone have any info? ha

well played sir, whoops. . well played, neg . . . how's that? hey i'm getting the hang of this

If you read the history on these dogs they were bread to catch ducks rafted up on rivers up north, the indians used them when hunting, the dogs would sneak up on a drove of ducks and catch one.

Only works in Nova Scotia.

VERY few around here in the South........they are intellegent for sure.
I looked into them years ago, before I purchased my first Boykin. Just not enough direct hunting experience for me to drop the coinage on.

I now have a Wachtelhund.......not trying to push you that way, but they are bred as hunters for hunters.

What I have found, is although there are many many quality boykins and DTR out there that DO hunt and HUNT HARD, picking a breeder that actually hunts them is becoming increasingly more difficult, and those that do have a waiting list for thier dogs. AKC to me has ruined the versatile breeds for hunters.

Before the AKC got a hold on boykins, you could find quality boykins and people breeding them. NOT THAT THERE aren't any now, but when I looked around most breeders where tellling me how "curly and cute" thier puppies were.....not how hard the parents hunted...........it shyed me away from another boykin. Much the same when you are looking for a DTR..........

I took a look at the trollers when i was looking for a chessie breeder....looks like a neat little dog. I found a hunter that had a litter of chessies from another hunter, both with papers but no trials experience, not that i cared, i wanted a dog with real hunting experience in his pedigree.......

I have a 5 yr old Toller, who is a good waterfowkling and upland dog. He is my second one, I got my first Toller over 18 yr ago. I chose Tollers because I wanted a compact retriever since i live in the city. I have never regretted getting Tollers and they have been good hunters as well as great family dogs.
You can look up the US and the Canadian Toller club websites for information and breeders. A hunting Toller loves to retrieve, you just need to go to a hunting-oriented breeder and tell him what you want.
The idea of using them to toll in the ducks is only practical where you can find quiet exposed shoreline, where the ducks can swim up to take a look when they see the dog dancing around as he retrieves a stick or ball tossed from the blind. Ducks are apparently suckers for a dancing fox and that's what Tollers (and their Dutch ancestor the Kuikerhond) were bred to resemble. My Tollers certainly have had the dancing motion but we have not had the right setting to use the them to toll.
If you want a hard headed field trialer Tollers are not the right choice, but for something in the Boykin or AWS size range they are worth a look.

good info thank you all . . .

Yes you can steady them, just a matter of training. Tollers are not as hard headed as others so you may have to use a softer training approach so you don't shut them down.
Those who toll with them and want them to dance to lure in the ducks toss a ball or stick out of the blind a few times, then steady the dog in the blind when the ducks start to approach.
Suggest you also talk to some breeders and hear their answers.

the breeders say the are easy to train, easier in fact than those hard headed labs ha, I have a lab now and successfully trained him so it will be fun to see the difference - thanks again for the info it's been helpful

OK good luck and hope you find a good pup.

Out Toller breeder also breeds Labs and his main training observation is that many Tollers are 'softer', so just take it easy when you train one.
My current Toller has lots of drive, maybe not as soft as others, and was professionally trained by a retired Field Trialer when he was 8 months old.
I haven't the time to enter him in hunt test competitions, but he has done what I wanted in the field and marsh.

My dogs came from Tollhaven and Kishkadina kennels near Guelph, Ontario, about an hour west of Toronto. They have been breeding Tollers for over 20 years for hunting and for show. You can google them up and you will find their website. However the website is rather new and is still building.

Our toller puppy was born in December. We are picking her up late January. The breeder that we used is Sue Dorscheid, Springvale Kennels.
http://home.centurytel.net/elmo/springv ... Kennel.htm
We loved the dogs and looked for years to find a breeder. We got really sick of a lot of the stuck up breeders that wouldn't sell a dog unless you were going to run it in trials and get them more points. Sue does show and run trials but is really down to earth. If you are interested in any breeders you better get on thier list it takes a while for your number to come up. We were on the toller rescue list for a few years but most of the dogs that came up had been abused to the point that hunting just wasn't going to be an option. It amazed me at the difficulty and cost of getting one of these dogs that there would even be a rescue but there is. I have a 2060 so i have plenty of room in the rig but I would rather pick up my own ducks than hunt with another lab. I'm sure there are a lot of great labs out there but around here every buddy has the greatest one (in their opinion) and then you get it in the boat and it's not worth the aggrevation. My wife is a Vet Tech and knows a lot more about them than I do. If you have any direct questions I can have her chime in.

hey that's awesome info there . . . I appreciate it, yeah I have a lab and I trained it myself and a guy I know got to my house before I did one day after two years of training and messed with him in his kennel and now he has bad aggression problems and tries to bite everyone but me . . . therefore he can't hunt anymore and I love the breed but just want to try a different route this time, if i'm going to put in the time I want results . . . and I feel ya on everyone having the best dog out there and then you spend more time chasing dogs than you do ducks ha - thanks again for the info i'll look into her kennel