From Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. It plays at the water's edge to lure, or "toll," ducks within range of hunters.

The Retrievers family. Developed in Britain and Canada from St. John's water dogs to bring back shot game, especially from water. Soft mouths, steady temperaments and a famous love of fetch.

Smart, playful and affectionate.

Voice

Barks to alert you, then settles.

With kids

A family favorite that thrives around children.

Other dogs

Generally sociable with other dogs.

Home

Can adapt to an apartment with daily outings.

Exercise. Very high energy: needs a lot of daily exercise plus a job for its brain, such as herding, agility or scent work. Puppies do better with several short sessions than one long walk, and older dogs need gentler outings.

Training. Learns fast and loves a job. Keep its brain busy with obedience, tricks or dog sports, or it will invent its own work.

Double coat: brush at least once a week with a slicker brush and then a comb, and more often when the undercoat sheds, often in spring and fall. Don't shave a double coat: the undercoat insulates against both heat and cold. Moderate, seasonal shedding.

For every dog: trim nails when you can hear them click on the floor, brush teeth daily if you can (a few times a week still helps), and clean ears about once a month, drying them well after baths and swims.

Daily calories

About 1,000–1,310 kcal for a healthy adult

Dry food

Roughly 2.5–3.25 cups a day at ~400 kcal per cup

Puppies eat four small meals a day at 6 to 12 weeks, drop to three somewhere between 3 and 6 months, and move to two meals a day from about 6 months.

Keep treats, including training treats and table scraps, under 10% of daily calories.

Calories use the resting-energy formula from the Merck Veterinary Manual (70 × body weight in kg^0.75) times a maintenance factor of 1.4 to 1.8, so very active or working dogs may need more. Cups assume about 400 kcal per cup; check your food's label. Treat any feeding chart as a starting point and adjust to body condition.

Typical lifespan is 12–14 years. Conditions reported in the breed:

Ask breeders for health-test results from the parents (hips, eyes, and DNA tests where relevant), and schedule yearly vet checkups.

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Photos come from Wikimedia Commons and are used under the licenses shown. Only freely licensed photos appear on this site; where none is available, you'll see an illustration.

• Wikipedia: Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (opens in a new tab)
• AKC breed weight chart (opens in a new tab)
• AKC: Puppy feeding fundamentals (opens in a new tab), bloat (opens in a new tab), treats (opens in a new tab) and grooming (opens in a new tab)
• Merck Veterinary Manual: Nutritional requirements of small animals (opens in a new tab)

Ratings for energy, shedding and the like are our own summaries, informed by these sources. Breed facts were checked in October 2026.