Paddy is my 1st Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, I was looking for an intelligent dog with a good temperament and Paddy fit the bill perfectly.

I first heard of the breed around 1986 but there weren't any in the UK at that time. I became more interested in the breed after I saw a picture of a recently imported dog around 1991, and when I started to look around for my next dog in 1999 I looked into Tollers as a possibility. It took 2 years before a puppy was available.
As a puppy I showed him lightly, he did quite well winning a few 1st prizes including a 1st prize at his 1st trip to Crufts but as he grew older he kept on growing so outgrew the breed standard, in addition he also has folded ears, a purely cosmetic fault but this counted against him in the show ring. Once he was castrated we had no chance at all so he was retired from the show ring. I wanted to do agility with him so prefer that he is too tall than too short. He started agility training in April 2002 and he had his 1st agility show in February 2003 where he managed his 1st clear round. He won out of starters 6 months later in August 2003. He retired from agility shows in 2011 at the age of 10, achieving a clear round on his last ever competitive run.

Unlike many Tollers, Paddy was never a natural swimmer and would stand and scream on the bank while other dogs jumped in and out of the water. At the age of 9, a new hydrotherapy pool opened near us so I took Paddy along for some swimming lessons. Finally after 3 lessons he realised that he could actually swim after all!

Paddy appeared on the BBC Crufts program in 2002, and also appears in the book 'Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever: Special Rare-breed Edition - A Comprehensive Owner's Guide' by Nona Kilgore Bauer.