The written history of Tollers encompasses the entire 20th century, but the pedigree history of Tollers only dates back to the late 1950's and early 1960's. The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever was first registered with the Canadian Kennel Club in 1945. However, there were no Tollers registered between 1945 and the late 1950's until Hettie Bidewell of Saskatchewan sought to register her breeding stock with the CKC. The first registered litter of Tollers appears in the 1959 CKC Stud Book. The parents of this litter were full siblings - Chin-Peek Golden Kim x Chin-Peek Trixie Girl. Over approximately a five year period Hettie Bidewell (Chin-Peek), Eldon Pace (Schubendorf) and Avery Nickerson (Green Meadows, which later became Harbourlights) had nine individual Tollers, whose parents were unregistered, approved for registration with the CKC. All of today's registered Tollers can trace their pedigree back to these dogs, often within five or six generations. Six of the nine individually registered Tollers were full siblings, offspring of Bidewell's Flip and Bidewell's Lady who were Hettie Bidewell's first Tollers.

In the late 1960's, after a decade of working to build up her breeding stock, Hettie Bidewell and the registered Toller population suffered a huge setback when many of her dogs were destroyed in a kennel fire. She painstakingly contacted puppy buyers in order to find dogs she had sold that were not neutered or spayed and also imported Pat of Schubendorf from Nova Scotia so that she could start over.

It's interesting to note that the nine original dogs produced a total of 81 registered puppies and more than one-third of those puppies, 30 in total, were actually bred. However, Chin Peek Trixie Girl produced two registered dogs but neither of these produced any registered puppies. Essentially, this means that Toller breeders today are dealing with four individual lines, no matter what they're currently breeding. Chin-Peek Golden Lucky Kim represents the most diverse of early pedigrees by encompassing all four original lines.

Below is a list of the earliest Toller registrations we have been able to find. Clicking on any of the early names listed there will link you to the Toller Browser, where you may try to follow these pedigrees. Many of the pedigrees of today's Tollers are not that far removed from those first nine dogs.  Take a look at the pedigrees for Berdia's Electra Ice Storm and Westerlea's Outfox The Fox. Ellie and Sly were born 8 years apart, yet they both remain very close to the original dogs. Both dogs list grandparents (Tayann Misty Rose and Tayann Teddy Bear) that are only six generations removed from an original dog, Majour of Schubendorf, who was born more than 30 years earlier.  Teddy was born in 1980 and Misty in 1984, Majour was born in 1957. Remember, dog generations are usually only 2-3 years, so this is quite remarkable.