I found a great article by Col. David Hancock, M.B.E., from last month’s Dogs in Canada magazine.
This breed is now extinct, but it is the ancestor of the toller.
And Col. Hancock is correct in another observation:
I see many resemblances to the Golden Retriever in the Canadian decoy dog, both in their sunny nature and their perpetually waving tails. A Golden was quite recently used as a decoy dog in East Anglia, charming many visitors. So the next time you throw a stick for your Golden Retriever, you may be re-enacting the role for which the dog’s ancestors were greatly valued, not merely idling away time and providing exercise. We may not, in these sophisticated times, need all of the wide-ranging skills of our dogs, but each must be exercised and we should honour their innate desire to be active, their instinctive interest in hunting and their inherent talent for serving mankind.
I always wondered if a golden could be used as a toller, especially if it were of the dark golden color and looked somewhat like a fox.
I now have my answer.
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I particularly agree with Col. Hancock’s lament about the dark-colored goldens.
I so much prefer that old color.
How about this decoy dog, the Kooikerhondje?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kooikerhondje
Yep. It’s one of three tolling breedings. I think it’s the original but don’t quote me!
The name of the breed I prefer is GOLDEN Retriever. Not brown, not “mahogany”, not beige or tan, not all-over off-white, not “platinum” (whatever that is!)– but Golden, whether light, medium, or darker Golden, always with that glint in sunlight as of the true metal, often accented with complementary paler tones on underside and featherings.