Description
This is the best-selling story of Nova Scotia's famous tolling dog. The legends and stories of the old tolling men and their dogs of Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, is part fact and part fiction. Here, at last, is the full story of the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and the men and women who bred them, trained them and brought them to prominence.
The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever is Canada's first and only true Canadian bred dog. For almost two hundred years the dog was unknown outside of southwestern Nova Scotia. The dog's particular hunting technique–tolling–was first recorded in North America by Nicholas Denys and became part of the folklore of the Maritimes. Straight out of "Ripley's Believe It or Not" is the dog's astonishing ability to lure waterfowl.
This powerful and mesmerizing effect in drawing waterfowl toward the shore is just one of the many intriguing secrets associated with this amazing canine. Gail MacMillan became enthralled with Tollers many years ago and became determined to unlock the dog's engaging past.
About the author
Gail MacMillan has always wanted to be a writer. She was 30 years old when her first book, Forest of Fear, was published for Avalon in 1974. Since then she has gone on to write three novels for Avalon, a variety of articles and stories for magazines in Canada and the United States, and two books on her favorite dog, the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. For a 1992 article on this breed, Gail was awarded a Maxwell Medal in New York by the Dog Writers' Association of America for the best article in a canine magazine or newspaper.
Gail's other interests include reading, horses, and canoeing. She currently lives in Bathurst, New Brunswick with her husband, Ron, and two dogs, a Sheltie mix and, of course, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.
