Although the Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever's exact bloodlines are unknown, the breed developed around the beginning of the nineteen hundreds in Nova Scotia, Canada. Many believe that the genetics and coat colorations of the Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever are a mix of Irish setter, golden retriever, and some cocker spaniel, although breeders do not know this for sure. A duck tolling retriever is a medium boned, powerful, well-muscled, compact dog with a moderate build. The dog's slightly wedge shaped, clean cut head appears similar to a fox's head.

The Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever has a soft, dense undercoat and a medium length, medium soft, water repellent double coat that protects the dog from icy waters. The toller has a straight coat and moderate length, soft featherings with some dogs having a slight wave on their back. It is quite common to see a retriever with the hair at their throat forming a loose, long curl during the winter months.

A duck tolling retriever can be any or various shades of orange or red, with red ranging from dark coppery red through a golden red. It is acceptable for the dog to have lighter featherings on its body, pantaloons, and underside of the tail. Even the dogs with lighter golden red shades are rich in color and deeply pigmented. They disqualify duck tolling retrievers if they are brown or buff and dogs with black areas in their coats, brown coats, or buff areas. Buff is silvery, faded, bleached or may appear as a faded brown color without or with silver tips. They do allow limited white markings on the duck tolling retriever's feet but not going above the pasterns, face, blaze, chest, and tip of its tail. Not allowed are white markings on any other parts of the duck tolling retriever's body. Some duck tolling dogs have no white markings on their coats at all, but they do not consider this a fault or penalize the dog. What does disqualify the dog is white across the dog's flanks, back of neck, around the ears, or on the shoulders. The tolling retriever's eye rims, lips, and nose should be flesh colored, match, and blend with the dog's coat or be black.

The Nova Scotia duck tolling retrievers are not only beautiful dogs with wonderful coloring, manageable coats, and a sensible size; they also possess a loveable temperament. These dogs are a good natured, extremely devoted family dog, intelligent, obedient, and patient and playful with children. Because of their great intelligence and quick learning, the toller does exceedingly well in advanced competitions such as obedience, agility, and Flyball. They are a very active dog that shows great enthusiasm and loves to compete in performance disciplines.

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