The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever is a distinctive red retriever developed on Canada's east coast to lure waterfowl within range, and it remains a comparatively uncommon breed with a tightly kept stud book. That closeness is exactly why a Toller puppy's paperwork deserves attention: in a small gene pool, the documented health testing behind a litter carries real weight, and a good breeder will hand you a folder that shows their work rather than asking you to trust a conversation.
The standard packet, Toller edition
Start with the written sale contract: purchase terms, the health guarantee offered, return provisions if the puppy cannot stay with you, and whether the registration transfers as full or limited. Next comes the kennel club registration application for your puppy, followed by a lineage record of three generations or more naming the sire and dam with their registration numbers. The breeder's litter record completes the set — your puppy's place in the litter, sex, and the red coat description with the white markings Tollers typically show on the chest, feet, face or tail tip. Those markings help identify your individual puppy on paper, so check they are actually recorded.
First-weeks health documentation
The puppy's own vet record should list examinations, vaccinations, worming treatments with dates, and a microchip number if one was placed. Tollers are energetic, water-loving puppies, and breeders often note early observations — which puppies charged into play, which hung back — but the formal health sheet is the part that matters for your vet. It should describe this puppy unambiguously and note anything found at examination, even something minor the breeder expects to resolve, so your own vet inherits the full picture rather than a cleaned-up version of it.
Screening results this breed calls for
Tollers have a documented cluster of inherited conditions, and the parent paperwork is where you verify the breeder has addressed them. Hip evaluation results for both parents are a baseline expectation. Eye examinations matter because inherited retinal disease and an eye developmental condition both occur in the breed. Genetic test results are widely used in Tollers, covering among other things an inherited immune-related disorder the breed is known for and a degenerative spinal condition, and many breeders also keep autoimmune-related records because thyroid and immune problems are tracked carefully in Toller lines. You are not expected to interpret all of this like a vet — you are checking that testing exists, belongs to the right dogs, and was shared without hesitation.
Questions the folder should answer
Before you leave, the paperwork should let you answer five things: who this puppy is, who her parents are, what health testing stands behind them, what veterinary care she has already had, and what the breeder guarantees and expects in return. If the registration is still in process, the contract should say so in writing with a timeframe. If a screening result is referenced verbally, ask for the sheet. Breeders of a niche breed like this one generally respect a buyer who reads the folder — it signals the puppy is going to a home that takes the breed seriously.
From breeder folder to lifelong record
That folder will anchor everything that follows: your vet's vaccination schedule builds on it, any future behaviour or health question is read against the family history in it, and the screening results shape what gets monitored as your Toller matures. Kept loose, it scatters; kept assembled, it stays the single source of truth about where your dog came from and what her start in life included. In KinsLe, the Pet Passport stores your Toller's registration, lineage and screening records as one portable packet, ready for vet visits, travel and handoffs.