Duck Dogs Masters

Duck Dog's Masters

Duck Dog Masters - Tolling Test, Where everyone is a Winner.

After a year of preparations and training the puppies from toller bitch Decoymans Piper Pippi´s litter finally started in their first tolling working test in April. Not only did they celebrate their first birthday on April 6^th, a week later their performance as tolling gun dogs was indeed judged by John Norris, decoyman at the Nacton decoy in Suffolk, UK and renowned Toller breeder.

The test was held at Kojtet Lake in south Sweden, a lake known for its excellent waterfowling conditions and therefore a suitable place for a tolling test. Springtime had barely reached these parts of Sweden, though little did it affect the work performed by Pippi´s pups.

All pups are trained to the gun, with a focus on their natural abilities and will to please. Hence puppy training started at five weeks, and has since continued in a playful and soft manner. That rough treatment nor cruel training devices has no place here, goes without saying. Obviously puppies trained this way will be able to perform well already during the upcoming waterfowling season.

The test was divided into different levels so that each handler could choose a level suitable for the development stage of his dog. Thus making it possible for all participants to go through the test feeling like winners. A tolling working test should be as similar to a real life tolling situation as possible: a blind next to the shore line, a tolling path, a gun waiting in the blind and preferably puddlers used as game. The test entails three tolling retrieves, three single marked retrieves and free search for five blind retrieves in an area of forty by fifty yards.

Eventually judge John Norris picked his winner: Duck Dogs Tollare Gunner. Handler Joakim Bjorklund and Gunner showed some really fine work.

We wish to congratulate Joakim and Gunner to the big win as well as the other participants who came in second. Last but not least we wish to thank John for judging Duck Dog Masters in such a fantastic way, like always teaching us so much by sharing from his vast experience of waterfowling and by the way he always makes the tolling tests so memorable for handlers and dogs alike.

Johan and Maria Stenebo, Duck Dog's, Sweden

A pleasure - as always

Hi everyone, first of all may I congratulate you all on how well you have done in the training of your tollers. It's not every day you get to see a litter of dogs together at one time, let alone in a working environment, so as you can see from the winning dog Duck Dogs Tollare Gunner. Handled by Joakim Bjorklund, you can get better, so keep up the good work.

It was nice to see the faces of the happy owners whose dogs hadn't been in water light up when all of their dogs successfully and happily ended up in the water on the training day, you don't get a dog with webbed feet for nothing you know, they all swim in time.

Anyway, thank you for having me over and looking after me so well, and I look forward to seeing some of you at the Toller Specialty in August. John Norris

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