"George's Page of Excellent Toller Web
Sites"
This site is scheduled to shut down as of July 1, 2006. Because
of Georges invitation to take whatever we want from the site, I have
chosen to add this portion of his site to mine in gratitude to George
for his efforts to help others to build excellent sites. DWC
Using a variety of internet search engines i.e. HotBot, directories i.e. Yahoo and Hybrid search engines I have endeavored to visit any and all NSDTR sites that I could find on the internet. While some of these sites mentioned the breed (NSDTR or Toller) by name only, others had considerably more information up to the level of excellence of the John Norris, the Cindy Tittle Moore, My Sköld and the NSDTR Genealogical sites.
While the subjective review system that I use has its
foundation in personal
discretion, I
endeavor to evaluate each English language site for
depth, value as an information source on NSDTR's, promotion of breed
recognition, ease of exploration and net appeal . After review, I grade
each site according to the following
Magellan style rating system:
**** Excellent
*** Very Good
** Good
* Not Very Useful
at the time that I
visited.
No
attempt is made to rank the individual sites
within the respective
categories.
No
attempt is made to
validate the content of the sites visited.
No censorship of a site due to
content or source. I do not believe in censorship but I do
believe in privacy on the internet!
Any site that gives me the aggravation of a
drop down or pop-up is
highlighted! Avoid all
tripod.com sites
and angelfire.com sites as they are an aggravation!!!
Now while some sites were "Not Very Useful" at the time of my
visit, I of all people, who is just an internet and HTML neophyte,
understand every site has to have a beginning and all sites are "under
construction" as a default. Therefore, those sites that are "Not Very
Useful" currently, I consider them to show future developmental
potential.
For time considerations and because I am a unalingual Anglophone,
I review
only English language sites. An excellent site for Toller links
from all countries is
My
Toller.net by Pia and Kai Risku;
other are:Tollarlankar
Site, My Skold's
Toller
Links,
Helen
Karlsson's
Swedish site and
Hilkka
Makitalo's
Finnish site.
In this regard, if I missed your site or you know of others that I
should be picking up, please contact me.
The following then is my on line directory of Toller sites that I have
reviewed and rated:
**** EXCELLENT SITES:
1.
The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling
Retriever by My Sköld.
The largest toller internet site due
in part to My's Toller genealogical data base .
My is regularly updating; so, this site is always current. The split
screen makes for easy surfing.
http://hem.bredband.net/myskold/index1.html
(a) PRA Euro Registry
(b)
My Sköld supplies the data base details for the NSDTR
Genealogical site
and she is the administrator of the Toller
Ring
(c) Toller
Clubs -- The best as by country Lots more !!!!!!!!!
(d) Toller
Links by country. The largest and probably the best site for
all
countries.
My Sköld's Homepage and Tollers at http://hem.bredband.net/myskold/index1.html
2.
Decoymans
- NSDTR's by John Norris.
Lots of original work at this site that is always dynamic; John is an unabashed full spectrum promoter
of the toller breed!!! Certainly one of the biggest
toller sites on the internet today and the one that many of the search
engines and directories point to first. John is a couple of steps ahead
of everyone else as evidenced by the fact that he owns the domain name tollers.com.
http://www.tollers.com/
also at http://www.decoymans.freeserve.co.uk/
(a). This is the home of the aforementioned H.A.P. Smith article -
"The Tolling Dog or the Little River Duck Dog" (1900) that I was so
please to see listed. For additional history on the Red Dog --- John
Norris has put up two books that are a must see to any one interested
in the history of Decoys and Decoy Dogs:
1.) The Book Of Duck Decoys by Sir
Ralph Gallway, 1886 and
2.)
British Duck
Decoys of Today, 1918 by Joseph Whitaker where
"The Decoy Dog" is described as a "small, reddish-colored mongrel" that
has been bred to resemble a fox. This 1918 decoy dog and its tolling
techniques "he appears from behind one of the reed-screens, trots along
his little towing-path, jumps over his dog-jump, disappears with a
flourish of his tail behind the next reed-screen, and then reappears
from behind the screen a few yards further up the bank" may very well
have linkage to the NSDTR as we know it today.
(b) John Norris has even arranged for a NSDTR ring to be
designed; the cost is $498.95 US for gold and $385.95US for Sterling
Silver.
(c) John also maintains the NSDTR (Cold Game Working
Test, May, 1998).
About half way through this document is an article entitled "The Toller
(Retrieving) Test" that is designed "to put the dog and a handler in as
much a realistic situation as possible to do tolling work". This Toller
Test was designed by J.
Stenebo, M. Stenebo and P. Andren.
(d) NEW John
Norris has recently designed a Toller badge that is available on his
site at http://www.tollers.com/badge.htm
(e) Nacton Duck Dog Day http://www.tollers.com/funday.htm
(f) Duck Dog Masters -
Tolling Test, Where everyone is a Winner http://www.tollers.com/masters.htm
3. "LittleRiver Kennels Perm Reg'd" Home Page
by Doug and Dawn
Coldwell. A bilingual Canadian site by toller breed pioneers Doug and
Dawn Coldwell. The LittleRiver Kennels not only has a long history
but an impressive list of quality tollers accomplishments i.e. top
toller in Canada in 2000, Gus, aka Littleriver's Argus. The LittleRiver
Kennel encompass 37 years and 10 generations of NSDTRs
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/littleriver/
http://littlerivertollers.com/
http://toller1.com
(a) The 2nd ed. of The Love Of Tollers is now available on
this site as an "e-book".
it contains a Part ll with 4 additional chapters --- a first for a
NSDTR site!
(b) I understand that the 1998 Royal Canadian Mint issue of the NSDTR
coin is no longer available from the Mint; however, Doug Coldwell has a
limited number of coins available from this site at $20 Cdn. plus
shipping and handling.
(c) Check out the section(s) on "What
is Tolling" and
"This is the way it is done" from someone who knows!
(d) For those who want to travel the Province of Nova Scotia, the
ancestral home of the NSDTR, this site has extensive travel links under
"Explore
Nova Scotia"
(e) Puppy Information
contains a list of caveats and precautions that are relevant not only
to puppy but also mature dogs homes. The link to the Animal Poison Control Center is
particularly relevant after we almost lost our toller Bo after he
consumed warfarin-- rodent bait.
4. (A) Toller Health by Laura Norie and Donna LaHaise. An excellent site dedicated to the health of tollers everywhere.Topics include:
http://www.tollerhealth.com/
(B)
What is the Toller Health Coalition
http://www.tollerhealth.com/About.html
(C) More Health Related: Registeries
OFA Orthopedic Foundation for Animals
operates a hip, elbow, eye, cardiac and
thyroid
registery
Orthopedic Foundation for Animals http://www.offa.org/
CERF Canine Eye Registery
Foundation at Perdue U.
Not available on this update.
It should be noted: These registries may give a false sense of security!!! In the Winter '99 issue of Quackers there was some discussion by Carol Milbury of closed vs. open registries. "Currently the breeders who belong to our Breeders Directory (NSDTR Club (USA) have their breeding stock hip and eye certified by the OFA and CERF. Theses are known as closed registries, because they are confidential - they do not reveal all of the information they gather. They only release lists of 'normal dogs' unless the owner has signed a release. What many people don't realize is that just because a particular dog is certified as "normal" for a particular genetic disease does not mean that it is genetically normal. It simply means that it is not affected by that particular disease. Unfortunately , it can still be a carrier for that disease because carriers look just as good as dogs who are completely normal. --- So OFA and CERF give breeders and puppy buyers a false sense of security. --- In order to make more informed breeding choices --- we need to know who the carriers are. That is why I am recommending that we join a Genetic Disease Control Open Registry called GDC. The information gathered by this organization is not locked away , but is instead open to all who request it."
(D) PRA Has Had Its Day . On Feb. 1, OptiGen Laboratory, LLC, a canine genetic testing laboratory began accepting and processing blood tests to determine - with 99% accuracy - if your Toller is clear, a carrier of or affected with Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA). This exciting new test, available world wide, is made available through the research of Dr. Gus Aguirre and colleagues of the James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health at Cornell University.
5. Links to Toller Club sites:
(a) The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Club of Canada
included on this page is the Official Canadian Kennel Club NSDTR Breed
Standard - as published in Canadian Kennel Club Official Section,
December 1997
http://www.toller.ca/
(b) The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Club (USA)
www.nsdtrc-usa.org/
(c) The NSDTR Club of Denmark
http://toller-klub.dk/
(d)
The NSDTR Club of Sweden --This is the largest Toller
Club with over 1200 members and about 2500 Tollers registered.
surf.to/tollarklubben
(e) The NSDTR Club of Switzerland
(f) The NSDTR Club of UK
http://www.uktollerclub.com/
(g) NSDTR Club of Ontario --- a reinvented Club designed as a
Ontario regional club.
http://members.rogers.com/ontoller/
(h) Finnish Toller Club no English option.
http://www.noutajat.com/tollerikerho/
(i) NSDTR Club Netherland
http://www.tollertales.nl/
6. Tollers International by Ron Critchfield is one
of the very best because it is a current site that is news and events
oriented
(a) Questions
to ask a breeder - for the new prospective NSDTR puppy purchaser
I make reference to this page on all requests where I reply with
puppy sourcing locations.
(b) Event calendar
http://www.toller.org/
7. NSDTR Genealogical Site WOW! This site
provided by Theo Gray is impressive. The data base of 10,000 NSDTR's
for this site is provided by My Sköld.
www.breedbrowsers.com/Tollers/
8. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers (Breed FAQ) article
by Cindy Tittle Moore The original document is dated February 16, 2004
--- but revisions are done regularly .
This site links to the the premier dog-faqs/breeds/toller; the
organization and content here is superb. This is the dog-faqs
site that gives an objective overview of the NSDTR breed. Cindy
Title Moore has been referred to as "the single most prolific dog
presence on the world wide web". With all that doggy information I
would just like to know what breed(s) of dog(s) she has?
Ms. Moore along with Mr. Eric Johnson are the list owners of the
toller discussion group, TOLLER-L .
9. rec.pets.dogs:Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers-FAQ
article by Cindy Tittle Moore last revision shown is April 23,1999.
This is the ubiquitous USENET rec.pets.dogs.breeds newsgroup's FAQ's
for the NSDTR breed that is at every ftp site around the globe. ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/dogs-faq/breeds/tollers
10. The Toller Ring is composed of a "community of
owners, hunters , breeders, trainers and friends of the NSDTR".
The Toller Ring is owned by Shannen Falconer; My
Sköld
is the administrator. While anyone can display the Toller Ring
banner,
you must be approved by the ring administrator to be a member of good
standing in order to come up on their site's random access. There was
62 registered sites as of this update. While I consider this to be an
excellent site, I am opposed to other than parental form(s) of
censorship on the internet and I would not consider giving others
approval discretion over my site's content.
If you want a real
toller ring John Norris has arranged to have one designed; details
are available from his Decoyman's
NSDTR's sight.
http://www.ringsurf.com/netring?ring=toller;action=list
11. Driftwood Kennels by Paul and Carol Milbury.
Links to pics is appreciated.
Check out Clipper's Page - he an all round performer who has won the US
National Specialty twice http://www.ducktollers.net
Also available at:
http://www.driftwood.ducktollers.net
12. NSDTR Breed Standards
(a)
(b) CKC http://www.ckc.ca./
(c) NSDTR Club (USA) http://www.nsdtrc-usa.org/standard.html
The NSDTR Breed
Standard Video is now available; contact the Club Merchandising
Chair.
(d) ARBA http://www.arba.org/
(f) Australian National Kennel Council http://www.ankc.aust.com/novascot.html
15. Toller Photo Gallery by Byron and Laura. This
is the way to present a photo album!!
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/2259/tollpic.html
and more photos in thumb nail form Dog
Daze showing Byron and Laura's Jack Russell Terriers and NSDTR ,
what a mix!
Thanks for the netiquette presentation!
**** Thumbs Plus **** used
to create thumb nail album -- looks like a good program to manage and
present pics.
16. NSDTR by Jolanda Achterberg Another slick/professional
thumb nail album presentation in frames format!
http://home.hetnet.nl/~achter10/
For the best Toller Animations check this site out.
Colour variations in
tollers. Genetic variations in toller colour and colour patterns.
17. Did you know that Babe Ruth owned a toller? article by Marc
Folco a columnist for the Standard-Times.
http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-00/10-08-00/b05sp061.htm
18. Copper and Brass's Not Available on
this
update!
http://welcome.to/copper.and.brass
19. NSDTR Breed Review by Michele Welton An honest review of
What's
Good and What's Bad about tollers!
http://www.yourpurebredpuppy.com/reviews/novascotiaducktollingretrievers.html
20. Mytoller.net by Pia and Kai
Risku The
best toller link site! The purpose is to have
a dynamic
up-to-date link collection to different toller pages in the world. Addition
and edition of links is open for everybody.
http://www.mytoller.net/public/links/index.zml
21. Toller-L Diaries You must be registered to access!
http://apple.ease.lsoft.com/archives/toller-l.html