Nancy and Shooter entered their first Qualifying Stake in July at the Treasure State Retriever Club Summer Field Trial in Butte, MT. The photo on the left was taken at that event. At their very next Qualifying event, Shooter placed 2nd to make him the only Qualified All-Age Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever in history! Quite an impressive feat for any retriever much less a NSDT Retriever!

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers were developed in the early 19th Century to toll (or lure) and retrieve waterfowl. The tolling dog runs, jumps, and plays along the shoreline in full view of a flock of ducks, occasionally disappearing from sight and then quickly reappearing, aided by the hunter, who throws small sticks or a ball for the dog. The dog’s playful actions arouse the curiosity of the ducks swimming offshore and they are lured within gunshot range. The Toller is subsequently sent out to retrieve the dead or wounded birds.

The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever has broken free of the constraints of the hunting technique for which it’s named as Nancy has shown us all. With today’s NSDT Retriever you get the ideal dog…a retriever, a hunter, a loyal watchdog, a show dog (obedience or conformation) and a wonderful loving pet all rolled into one!

Nancy has shown us all what courage and tenacity will bring. She has fought the battle of her life by surviving Leukemia and now has accomplished something that no other retriever trainer has done!

“Shooter is our second Toller.  Our first Toller was Halsey (also our first dog).  When I first started running Halsey, Tollers were primarily running in the beginning stakes. We had no clue what we were in for.  We had fun training and enjoyed the process and 18 months later, Halsey was the first Toller to get a NAHRA MHR.  He went on to obtain his MH in both the US and Canada.

Enter Shooter.  A very different dog than Halsey.  Very much a team player, a good marker but wanted to do everything right.  It took a lot of patient training and attention to maintaining his attitude.  After getting his AKC SH, Shooter went to Canada to stay with a good friend Sue Kish.  Sue is a long time Toller Breeder.  Sue ran Shooter and obtained his CKC MH, his CKC CH and were finalists at the Canadian Master National in 2007, in Ontario.  Making Shooter the first Toller to ever finish a National Event.

In 2008 I was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia and underwent a stem cell transplant.  Shooter stayed with good friends, Wendy Rowan and Bruce and Kate Dugger until January of 2009.  They ran him in AKC Master leaving me with one remaining leg for his title.  In April of 2009 I ran him for his title leg.  He did a flawless job and was a joy to run and train.  We had not run together for almost 3 years.  It was so much fun to run him -  he is such a happy guy.

I have ben running Field Trials for about three years with my two labs, Connie and Lily and training in Montana, with Karl and Cyndi Gunzer of High Spirit Retrievers.  This summer we went up to train and had decided to run Shooter on a few of the set-ups so that he would not be sitting on the truck all day.  He absolutely loved the training, his attitude was fabulous, and he was having the time of his life.  My training group was teasing me about running him in a Q, my response, “NO WAY”.  Well, WAY.  On our way back to California we stopped to run the Eastern Idaho Retriever Club Trial.

Judges, Anna Calvert and Todd Williams set up a very nice Qual, challenging but fair.  I must admit I did gulp when I saw the three big swims on the water, with the long gun retired.  Shooter’s forte has never been big water and especially retired guns on big water.  Well, he went out and hammered that 4th series.  He swam as straight as a string (we laugh that he must have been reading his very own rule book-swim straight to the bird, page 72). 

I am honored to have stood beside the first Toller to become QAA in the US.  Shooter is a wonderful house dog, a joy to train and to live with.”

AKC/CKC CH Redrock’s Straight Shooter AKC/CKC MH and……QAA!!