Training your toller – Tollinghunt

Training your toller.

Your toller is a unique dog. It´s from a unique breed of hunting dogs, formed by a special unique way of hunting, and it´s the only breed today used in this exciting hunt.

There are many different breeds of bird dogs and retrieving dogs – but there is only one breed that combines the retrieving of fallen game, whether on land or water, after the shots … with a work before the shots, luring birds closer to the hiding hunter and within shooting range.

This special work is called tolling. Below are two articles about the training of tolling.

1. Tolling for beginners

Your toller is a unique dog.

It´s from a unique breed of hunting dogs, formed by a special unique way of hunting, and it´s the only breed today that can be used in this exciting hunt.

There are many different breeds of retrieving dogs and bird dogs, not least the other retriever breeds – but there is only one breed that combines the retrieving of fallen game, whether on land or water, after the shots … with a work before the shots, luring birds closer to the hiding hunter and within shooting range.

This special work, where the dog and hunter together sneak down to a hide by the water and then work together to attract and lure the birds closer, is called tolling.

The retrieval work after the shot with its different tasks:

– marking and retrieving (when the dog sees the game falling, memorizes the place where it fell, and then can quickly get there, and quickly retrieve the game to its handler);

– searching an area on land or on water (when the handler knows that there is fallen game somewhere in the area, but neither the handler nor the dog saw exactly where it fell, and the dog is sent to search the whole area and use its nose to find the game and retrieve it);

– the blind retrieves (when the handler, but not the dog, has seen where a game has fallen, and the handler should send the dog to the right place on water or on land, using hand signals and whistle signals to direct the dog)

… you can learn all about this in hundreds of books and articles about retrievers and retriever work, at retriever courses, or in training for instructors or with your training buddies.

This text is all about tolling, and training for a tolling test.

Let us start by clearing up a few misconceptions.

# The tolling test is not an easier test than the retriever test. The tolling test has the same elements as the retriever test – the marks, the search, the blind retrieves, the water work etc. – and in these parts, the tollers in a tolling test must solve the tasks in the same way as the dogs on a retriever test. And in addition to all this, there is also the actual tolling.

# Tolling work is not innate in all tollers (just as good retriever work is not innate in all our retrievers, whether they are called lab, golden, flat, curly, chesapeake or toller). What makes a good hunting dog, at the test or at the hunt, is a combination of the dog´s innate characteristics and qualities, and your systematic training, step by step, from the puppy box and onwards. To think a toller, who has not been trained to hunt, will automatically start tolling at the first opportunity is as silly as thinking a labrador, who has only been taken on dog walks, suddenly could work flawlessly on the first hunt.

# Tolling is not simple and easy – even if some people think of it as just a matter of “sitting behind a net and throwing a ball for your dog”. Most of these people have never tried tolling with their dog, or seen a tolling test. Tolling requires tight cooperation between you and your dog, your dog showing the will to work for you, your ability to read your dog, and a dog being able to switch between activity and passivity, again and again.

Dog training takes time.

Training and working with your dog takes time, and needs to take time. Dog training should be a full year occupation – not just in the nice Summer days and evenings, but also on rainy days and in windy cold November. Dog training is an every day task – adding some small training moments into the daily walks and some training in the kitchen or garden at home, between the training days at outdoor areas, by lakes and ponds.

Thankfully most of our tollers love to work, together with their handlers. They are working dogs that needs to train, to learn, to solve challenges, to be rewarded, and to feel our appreciation and love.

Training your dog starts with the smaller steps – carrying a dummy or a ball, returning with it, delivering it, finding it – tasks that build up the dog´s confidence. This can be trained again and again, indoors or outdoors, and you can always return to these simpler steps even when you´ve come much further in your training.

As one of the best dog trainers I´ve met said: “90% of the time you should train the things your toller already knows.”

The smaller steps are the building blocks of the longer chains of tasks that forms a hunting dog´s work. (Look at the single water mark, when one dummy is thrown for the dog. It is a chain of situations – getting ready and prepared > waiting quietly > sitting still > hearing the shot > seeing the throw > waiting for the handler to say “go” > going into water > swimming to the right place > gripping the dummy > swimming back > getting out of water with dummy in mouth > coming back to the handler > delivering the dummy …)

Lots of stuff to train, to be prepared for the test … and it is quite simple: If it doesn´t work in training, it never works at the hunting test.

The four steps of the tolling work.

PART 1 – Down to the hide

There you are, at the test with your dog.

The test has just started, you have met the judge, and down at the edge of the water there is the net, the hide, waiting for you and your dog.

The first step is to take the leash of your dog, and then to sneak down, together with your dog, to the net and behind it.

Together means that the dog should be either close to you or behind you, and that you should go down at a pace that you (or the judge) decides, not the dog.

The dog should not rush down to the hide or to the water, ahead of you. It should neither run ahead to get to the net, or run away to greet one of the helpers, or run down to drink or start playing in the water or go out for a swim. (In my years as tolling judge, I have seen all these variations, and more – the dog is out of hand, even before the tolling by the net can start.)

Why is this so important? The test has not even really started, or has it?

The answer is simple. Imagine what would happen if this was a real tolling hunt, with ducks swimming out there on the water. If they are close to land, there is a big risk that the dog running down to the water´s edge, will make them swim away from the shore going further out, or in worst case even take off.

TIPS:

# Practice this step often. A good rule is to always practice this part, the approach to the net, before doing anything else in your training.

# You don´t need an “artificial” hide, such as a net, to train the approach. Practice with natural hiding places – some shrubs or a tree at the water’s edge, or a large stone or boulder – just as you would do if this was a real tolling hunt. (The tolling hunters in Nova Scotia didn´t put up a lot of nets, or cleared tolling areas – they knew the terrain, and used the natural hiding places along the shores to do the tolling.)

# You can even train the approach to the net (and the rest of the tolling) on dry land. You don´t need water

# Practice this together with friends or your training group – take turns practicing this, while your training buddies act as the judge, the helpers or the shooter.

# Make it easy for the dog to understand, what it is supposed to do and to understand the task. Don´t just walk down to the hide, as if you and your dog were out for a walk in the woods. Use a commando, a special word, before you start. Sneak down to the hide, maybe slightly bent over, kneeling down once or twice. Take a step to the side or take a step back. Wait a couple of seconds before moving again. Your body language and movement pattern, will help your dog understand and play along. Be interesting, instead of predictable.

# Take advantage of the terrain, instead of the straight way to the net. Look at the terrain – which way would you take, to be as hidden as possible for the birds, if it was a real tolling hunt?

# In the approach (and throughout the whole tolling work) you can communicate and keep contact with your dog using soft, small, low words or sounds – but always always keep a low tone.

# If you want the dog to be behind you, when you sneak down to the hide – practice this first with a treat or a Frolic in your hand. Keep your hand behind your knee as you sneak down and reward the dog when you have reached the net. Later on, try it with the hand behind the knee, but without the treat, and reward it behind the net. And in the end, do it without any treats.

PART 2 – Waiting behind the net

And now, you have sneaked down to the hide and you and your dog are waiting behind the net. This is where you should stay through the whole tolling work. Usually on the test, the net is set in a position by the water, so that you can send the dog both to the right and to the left.

The judge tells you when it is time to start tolling and gives instructions – like “Three to the right and then three to the left.” or “Let´s do eight tollings and you decide tempo and how many on each side.”

When waiting behind the net, the dog should be quiet and calm. It should not leave the hide. It should just wait. The dog can sit or stand or lay down, just as long as it is still behind the net.

You should also be able to take your eyes from the dog, and look at the judge or at the terrain around the net, and still be confident your dog is just waiting, quiet and still.

In a the tolling hunt, it is of course the hunter who sets the pace and decides whether the dog should work or wait.

Both parts of the tolling work is important. The active parts, the tolling when the dog runs back and forth on the shore, to the net and back out after the ball, catches the ducks´ attention and interest. And when the dog “disappears” behind the hide and stays in hiding, the ducks´ curiosity makes them swim closer. If they stop swimming closer, more tolling and then another wait, again and again, until the ducks are close enough for a good shot.

TIPS:

# Practice waiting, passivity, behind a net or behind a natural hide. Start with some tolling and then make a pause and then another couple of tolling runs. Make the pauses longer and longer, when the dog has understand it´s supposed to wait calmly. Use the clock or mobile when training the wait behind the net – waiting 15 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, and more.

# If needed, you may communicate and calm your dog with soft, small, low words – but remember to always keep your tone down.

# Practice waiting without eye contact; look away from the dog, look around, look at the water; and also practice switching position behind the net. The dog should wait even if you have to move or change position.

# If your dog is high in energy, put the tolling object, the dummy or the ball on the ground, maybe with your hand over it, so the dog can see it. When you do this in training, the dog will after a couple of times understand that nothing will happen until you lift your hand and take it up. If you keep the tolling object in your hand during the whole wait, it´s easy for the energetic dog to just go higher and higher in expectation.

PART 3 – The play, the tolling

It sounds so simple – you throw the tolling object (a ball, a stick, a toy, a small dummy) and the dog retrieves it. Again and again, back and forth, at a good pace and with playful bouncing movements. And yet so much can go wrong.

The dog runs after the tolling object, but then ignores it and loses focus (taking a pee, drinking some water, investigate an exciting scent, go over to the helper, find its way into the search area, or goes for a swim).

The dog picks up the tolling object, but doesn´t come back with it.

The dog is too quick, so your throw lands behind it.

The tolling object gets stuck in a bush or lands in a thicket.

The tolling object hits something and changes direction and the dog loses it.

The tolling object accidently lands in water and sinks …

There are almost as many ways to do the tolling work, as there are tollers.

Some scurry away like rabbits, some jump along the water, some run and make a last big jump onto the right spot, some run so quickly there are furrows in the ground, some paw away at a leisurely pace, some will return with half the forest, some run back into the hiding place, some take a little extra turn on the shore before coming back, some are slow returning, some will go in front of the net and come back from the other direction, some juggle with the tolling ball in their mouth, some spit it out as soon as they are behind the net, others hold it until they get a command …

In other words, there will be plenty of room for the judge to evaluate the tolling, and the tolling judges, of course as all judges, can have their own personal preferences for the perfect tolling.

In my opinion, the tolling should first of all be independent.

The dog should do the tolling runs, fetching and returning with the ball or the stick by itself, without any commands from you. At its best, you shouldn´t even have to keep an eye on your dog to see it´s work. (If it was a real tolling hunt, you would need to have the full focus and concentration on what is happening out there on the water, not on the dog.)

Tolling should be silent, and if you are forced to use a command or the whistle to get the dog back to you – keep it as low as possible, not to be heard by the ducks.

Tolling should be in good speed and playful. The animated, playful and quick dog working on the shore, must be easier for the ducks to notice and should make them more interested … than a slow and controlled dog walking on the shore. Use your own playfulness and your connection with your dog to make the tolling more interesting – change the way you throw and interchange between high and low, pretend to throw left and then throw right, make a fake throw … Be playful, instead of predictable.

TIPS:

# Always bring two or three or even four tolling objects when sneaking down to the hide. This is especially important at the test. If the first tolling object get stuck in a thicket or hanging on a branch or if the dog didn´t see where it landed – you have a backup with more objects in your pocket.

# Bring different objects along to the hide – when you have been training tolling a couple of times, you have probably seen that there are some objects that really starts the play in your dog – so bring both the more ordinary tolling objects, and your dog´s favourite to the net. If the dog gets more and more excited in the tolling, switch to a more ordinary object; if the dog needs more play or is a little bit tired, switch to the favourite.

# Read the terrain on both sides of the hide, the net, before you start tolling. Big stones where a ball can bounce and change directions? Roots? Places where the object can be lost? Low hanging tree branches? You can use the more open areas to get more speedy tolling, or throwing into denser vegetation to slow it up, if it gets too excited.

# Don´t use very bouncy balls, and also make sure the ball and everything else you use in the tolling floats on water. (It´s easy for a bouncy ball to change direction, if it is bouncing on stones or roots or uneven ground).

# Do not use the same type of dummy, that you use in the other parts of training (marks, blind retrieves, search, …). Use an object that you only do tolling with. Make it easy for the dog to understand what it is supposed to do.

# At the test, the judge will ask you to do a certain number of tolling works, the tolling should be speedy and playful, and it is easy to wind up the tempo if your dog is speedy. Try to control the tempo between each throw. If the dog is very quick and gets more and more up in gear, make a small three-four second pause between each throw.

PART 4 – The end of the tolling work.

The last part of a successful tolling is the switch from the playful tolling, to the focused marking and retrieving of the thrown dummy or the fallen game.

At the tolling hunt, when the ducks are close enough, the hunter readies the gun and then comes out from behind the net, the ducks gets surprised and take to their wings, and the hunter has the opportunity to shot one or two ducks. The dog should also be outside of the net, by the hunter, to see, to mark, where the bird or birds fall, and waiting for the command to go.

The single or double water marks at the end of the initial tolling in a tolling test are not different from an ordinary mark for a retrieving dog.

The dog should be steady, still, quiet, without losing focus or reacting to the shot. It should mark and memorize where the duck or ducks fell. It should wait for your command, and then without hesitation go into water and swim to the fallen game, retrieving it and delivering it back to you in a efficient tempo och correct style.

You need to train this situation, this transition from “playful work to controlled work”.

In a tolling test, the judge will tell you that the tolling is finished and that is time to get ready for the first mark. In Beginners class, the judge can ask you to stand up and step out beside the net with the dog by your side and prepare for the shot. But this is nowadays, changing more and more to the way it is done in the higher classes – you stay behind the end of the net and are told to get your dog to sit outside the net.

So, this is the way you should do in training as well, and practice to get your dog sitting in the right position, beside the net. Remember to train this on both sides of the net, right and left.

In the tolling hunt, the step from tolling to the shots and the falling birds can be in just one or two seconds – the hunter suddently sees the ducks lifting and taking off, and must quickly stand up, aim and shoot. The hunter can not wait for the dog out there tolling, to first come back with the stick or ball before the shot, or for the dog waiting behind the hide, to first get in the right position to see the bird falling.

In the highest class, the Elite class, this quick transition also gets more and more common, as the test takes on the challenges from the real tolling hunt.

The first of the shots for the marks will come suddenly, in the middle of the dog´s tolling work. The dog that has experience of this from training or from hunting, will usually stop in it´s tracks, marking and memorizing where the game fell, and then wait for the command to go. Some dogs will return to the net, and mark from that position – but they should always wait for the command to start retrieving from the handler. The dog should not run out without an OK from the handler.

(Sometimes the handler is as surprised as the dog, and keeps on throwing the ball even after the shots. There is no need for taht. The tolling work is over when the shots are fired. It´s time for retrieving.)

Summary.

When you feel ready with the training of the different steps in the tolling, and has trained the other parts of the test (the marks, the free search, the steadiness, etc.); then you are ready to enter the tolling test.

The tests are not competitions.

The tests are organized and arranged to evaluate the dog´s hunting qualities to support the breeding of better hunting dogs. The single result from one test says little about your dog´s potential – it only says your current status and how far you and your dog has come in your training.

There are very few handlers, who aren´t nervous at the first start at a hunting test – and many of us still feel nervous even after many starts and with our second or third dog.

I am still nervous and on edge after more than twenty years of tolling and tolling tests – but I always think of an interview I heard with a World famous equistrian horse rider, that had started in the Olympic Games and World Championships several times, where he said: “I am still nervous for each start, but that is fine, because it is a reminder of how important this is for me and how much I want to show the hard work me and the horse have put into this.”

When you are nervous, a few things tend to happen.

Your voice probably doesn´t sound the same as it does at home, when you are just training – you might not even notice any change or difference, but be sure your dog notices it.

You probably move in a different way, small changes, perhaps because it feels like everyone is watching you and your dog (and they are) – and again, be sure, your dog notices this too.

And if things start to go wrong during the test, you lose a bit of focus on confidence – and maybe starting mixing up commands or try to handle your dog in a different way as when you are training.

Two truths when it comes to nervousness and tension:

Practice makes perfect. It pays off to train. It pays off to practice the test situation, and set up training tests together with your friends (do the complete test from the start meeting the judge and then approaching the net and then run through the entire test). Take your dog through the whole test, instead of just training one situation. Bring along friends of friends and let an “unknown” person be the judge or a spectator. With each subsequent training session, you will feel more confident and calm, and your dog will feel more and more confident and sure.
The judge at a hunting trial is just as interested in finding the good qualities in your dog, as you are in the chance to show them to the judge. As a very experienced retriever judge said, when I was in training: “Any idiot can look for faults. You should look for the qualities in each dog, and then weigh them against what´s missing and what can be improved”. That is what we should focus on in the tests.

There it is. Good luck with all your training, and we will meet at the tolling test.

2. The perfect tolling?

The tolling hunt, when the dog lures the ducks closer to the shore and within shooting range, is a very special and unique hunting experience. With your toller, and only with a toller, is it possible to experience the almost magical moment when the ducks starts to respond to the dog´s work and when they come closer and closer …

But, what is the most effective tolling?

The tolling that makes the bird hunt successful, the tolling that gives the right results on the practical tolling test that every tolling hunting champion needs to pass, and the tolling that I as a judge want to see from as many dogs as possible on the tolling tests.

There are two truths that we can start from.

One is that none of us can know anything about how a duck thinks, and why they react the way they do. I´ve heard many different explanations over the years, and one of the most common is that foxes hunt in a similar way and that the ducks swim closer to keep an eye on the fox, e.g. if they are laying on eggs or having ducklings.

However, this does not explain why the ducks swim closer in the fall, when they do not have young.

Or why the ducks decide to swim closer. Wouldn´t it be safer to stay out there on the open water, in safety.

It could be an explaination to why a red and white Toller can attract the ducks, while a black Labrador doing the same job rarely gets any reaction from the birds.

So far, I haven´t seen any research or scientific documentation from biologists or ethologists, proving that wild foxes actually hunt like this. No one, to my knowledge, has filmed wild foxes hunting in the same way as our Tollers.

My understanding is that hundreds of years ago, when people realized that red and white dogs in different situations made ducks swim closer, they simply wanted to find an explanation for the birds´ behavior and the explanation about foxes were the obivous one.

The second truth is that tolling does not work every time.

There are several conditions that need to be right – for example, there needs to be a reasonable distance between the ducks and the shore, when the dog and hunter sneak down and start the tolling. Too far out, no reaction – too close, swimming away or taking off.

The wind and wind direction can affect the ducks´ behaviour and determine whether they can be attracted closer; and there needs to be a reasonable number of ducks on the water (a single duck or a few ducks are much harder to lure than a bigger group of perhaps ten or twenty birds).

And most importantly, the dog needs to be trained to do tolling work that makes the ducks interested and attracts them towards the shore and the hide.

For a successfull tolling hunt where the ducks are lured within range:

# the tolling needs to be silent (one clear sound from the dog, or the hunter, can make the ducks take off),

# the tolling needs to be focused (so that the dog continues to work, regardless of whether the flock of ducks is quacking and chattering, or anxious and flapping their wings, or if one or two are taking off but the rest stays),

# the tolling needs to be independent (so that the dog does its work on its own, and the hunter can focus on the birds and their response – instead of having to keep an eye on his dog all the time),

# the tolling needs to be energetic (on the hunt, the dog must have the energy and stamina to work for perhaps up to 15 minutes to lure the ducks close enough, alternating between the playful quick rushes along the water and the calm wait behind the net),

# and the tolling needs to be fast and preferably playful (the fast and unexpected movements are easier for the game to notice and perceive, while the slow and monotonous movements may not even be perceived by the ducks).

Quiet, focused, independent, energetic, fast and playful …

The qualities and the work needed for a successful tolling hunt where the ducks are attracted are the same qualities that I as a judge want to see in your dog at the hunting test.

It should be quiet.

Preferably without any sound from the dog and from you as a handler. If you need to communicate or control your dog with your voice, do it as quietly as possible. Or try to control your dog with hand signals or body language.

For example, if the dog does not really want to come back to you at the net, make a playful invite to play with your whole body (just like your dog does when it wants to play with another dog) or entice it with an extra toy or ball … instead of raising your voice or blowing your whistle. It happens from time to time that a handler at a test gets annoyed with his dog and reflexively, without thinking, resorts to his whistle – to be sure this reflex is not happening, put the whistle in a pocket or hidden before you start the test.

A hunter, who forgets himself during the hunt and takes the whistle, will probably not have many ducks left on the water afterwards.

It should be focused.

The dog´s focus should be on working with you, on the tolling objects, on the tolling itself; regardless of what´s going on around it. On the hunt, the dog needs to continue to repeatedly retrieve the tolling object, or to be able to lie quietly and calmly behind the net, regardless of what the ducks are doing.

At the test, the dog needs to focus on the tolling work itself, and not on everything else that is around (like the judge, or the shooter, or the thrower, or the search area, or the audience) or on the scents in the terrain. A dog that occasionally stops and quickly scans the surroundings, and then continues working, keeps the focus on the tolling – while the dog that stops every time, locks onto things in the surroundings, or interrupts the work to smell spots or do it´s business, does not have the focus that I want to see in the test.

It should be independent.

The dog should ideally do as much of the tolling work as possible on its own, without you having to direct and remind it what to do. The optimal situation for the hunter at the tolling hunt, is if he can look out at the ducks and the water, can throw the tolling object without looking, then keeps the hand open, and then the dog puts the tolling object there again after a few seconds.

As a handler on tolling tests, you obviously need to practice tolling in different situations and in different places, and in different terrain – and strive for the tolling to be independent and certain while training.

It should be energetic.

The dog should have the energy and the stamina for longer work. The tolling at a real hunt can be 5, 10 or even 15 minutes, changing between the active tolling runs and the passive wait behind the net. If we were to have this tolling work on a test … there would be significantly longer tests for each dog and fewer dogs that could start the test.

The tolling in all classes at the tolling test is shorter than in the real hunt. In Beginners class it should be around 10 tollings and a short wait, while in Elite class it can be around 25 tollings and two or three longer waits of up to one minute each – whether it is Beginners, Open or Elite, as a judge I want to see is that the dog maintains the same speed, focus and style throughout the tolling work.

It should be fast and preferably also playful.

The fast movements are easier to see and will bring the attention from the ducks faster, and the dog that jumps and plays with the stick or the ball is even more interesting for the ducks on the tolling hunt. Many tollers have speed and agility, while the playfulness may not be as clear and present. This is where you as a handler can be very important – try different tolling objects or balls in training to see which one(s) your dog finds most fun, vary your throws when you are behind the net, or feint throws without releasing the ball or in different directions.

Tolling work is done together, by you and your dog. Tolling is what makes your toller and our breed unique among all other hunting dog breeds. And that is why the tolling is crucial in our own official tolling tests as the most important part for the overall impression and for the price level that your dog can reach. Tolling sets the bar in pricing.

And that is just another big reason to work and train tolling together with your dog, as the feeling when you experience the magic of a tolling hunt where the ducks come closer and closer …