The breeds · side by side
for a small boat and a small house
Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever or Labrador Retriever.
The smallest retriever against the most common one. A Toller fits a canoe and a small house; a Lab brings more dog to big water and cold. The size, the coat and the drive are the honest lines, and the breeder count behind each is not close.
Every value below shows its source and how sure we are. Breed sets the odds; the parents set the dog. Nothing here is a prediction about one dog.
What the question turns on
Height at the shoulder
dogs 19 in (18 to 21) · bitches 18 in (17 to 20)
dogs 23.5 in (22.5 to 24.5) · bitches 22.5 in (21.5 to 23.5)
Weight
dogs 48 lb (45 to 51) · bitches 40 lb (37 to 43)
dogs 72.5 lb (65 to 80) · bitches 62.5 lb (55 to 70)
Cold water
5 of 5 · Built for cold water: 'bred to retrieve from icy waters' with a water-repellent double coat and dense undercoat
4 of 5 · Undercoat provides protection from water, cold and all types of ground cover; the standard describes a dog with the substance and soundness to hunt waterfowl for long hours under difficult conditions
Exercise need
Up to 1 hour per day
More than 2 hours per day
Energy
5 of 5
5 of 5
The rest, read the same way
Coat
Not recorded for this breed yet.
Short, straight and very dense, fairly hard to the hand, with a soft weather-resistant undercoat; a slight wave down the back is permissible; black, yellow or chocolate
field lineLighter bone structure, more length of leg, a less dense coat and a narrower head with more length of muzzle
show lineStockier, heavier of bone, denser in coat, with a head often incorrectly described as square or blocky
Shedding
Shedding 3 of 5 (AKC breed page trait score)
Shedding 4 of 5 (AKC breed page trait score)
Heat tolerance
3 of 5 · Water-repellent double coat of medium length with a soft dense undercoat
4 of 5 · Short dense double coat: short, straight, very dense outer coat with a soft weather-resistant undercoat
Median lifespan
13.2 years
13.1 years (13 to 13.1)
Life expectancy at birth
Not recorded for this breed yet.
11.8 years (11.7 to 11.9)
What it costs
Embrace prints no average claim; it lists hip dysplasia (medium risk) at $1,500 to $6,000 and Addison's disease (high risk) at $1,000 to $5,000 to diagnose and treat, and says the breed costs more to insure than mixed breeds because of hereditary-condition claims
Not recorded for this breed yet.
Exercise need
Not recorded for this breed yet.
More than 2 hours per day
Grooming load
3 of 5 · More than once a week
2 of 5 · Once a week (RKC grooming band); coat length short; sheds
Grooming
Not recorded for this breed yet.
Once a week
Why they get given up
The UK breed club lists: sold into an incompatible situation; little or no training and now 'out of control'; the owner has become ill
Not recorded for this breed yet.
Role
Tolling retriever: lures ducks within gunshot range by playing along the shoreline, then retrieves the dead or wounded birds; the smallest of the retrievers
Retrieving gun dog with the substance and soundness to hunt waterfowl or upland game for long hours under difficult conditions
Primary game
Waterfowl (ducks)
Waterfowl
Also used on
Upland birds: the club's Working Certificate asks for control enough 'to participate in a simple upland or waterfowl hunt'
Upland game
Range
Not recorded for this breed yet.
Close: a non-slip retriever works from the handler's side and goes out on command; test retrieves should not normally exceed 100 yards (Junior, Senior) or 150 yards (Master)
Field trial standard
NSDTRC (USA) three-step program WC, WCI, WCX plus the Basic Retrieving and Tolling Test: land and water marks, a tolling series of repeated short retrieves parallel to the shore with no whistle or loud commands, and no gunshyness
AKC retriever hunting tests score four abilities 0-10: marking (memory), style, perseverance/courage/hunting, and trainability (steadiness, control, response, delivery); dogs must perform equally well on land and in water; Senior and Master dogs run blind retrieves and honor another dog's retrieve; tests are designed to approximate upland or waterfowl hunting
Water work
Bred to retrieve from icy waters; strongly webbed feet; love of water is called essential to the tolling role
Retrievers shall perform equally well on the land and in the water and are tested on both at every level
Hip dysplasia
5.9% · 4,167 OFA hip evaluations, all data as served Oct 5 2026; 5.9% dysplastic (mild 4.0, moderate 1.8, severe 0.0; borderline not counted), 93.8% normal (22.0% excellent)
11.3% · 11.3% dysplastic of 325,251 OFA hip evaluations on record (all data through Oct 2026; OFA hip registry dates from 1974); 87.5% normal (21.8% excellent, 57.1% good, 8.6% fair); breed rank 121 of the breeds listed
Elbow dysplasia
2.3% · 2,614 OFA elbow evaluations, all data as served Oct 5 2026; 2.3% abnormal (grade I 2.0, grade II 0.2, grade III 0.0)
9.9% · 9.9% abnormal of 149,110 OFA elbow evaluations on record (grade 1 7.6%, grade 2 1.7%, grade 3 0.6%); breed rank 49
Most common disorders
Swedish owner survey, 935 live dogs: neoplasia of any kind 14% (mammary and mast cell tumours most often named), steroid-responsive meningitis-arteritis 3.5%, immune-mediated rheumatic disease 3.0%; neoplasia was the stated cause of death for 38% of 177 deceased dogs. The US parent club adds autoimmune thyroiditis (18.5% of 173 MSU tests positive) and ranks hypothyroidism, epilepsy and hip dysplasia as breeders' top concerns
Most prevalent disorders in UK Labradors under primary care (2013, sample n = 2,074): otitis externa 10.4%, overweight/obesity 8.8%, degenerative joint disease 5.5%; 61.6% had at least one disorder recorded. Median longevity 12.0 yr in that sample; chocolate-coloured dogs shorter-lived (10.7 vs 12.1 yr) with more otitis and pyo-traumatic dermatitis.
Toward strangers
Not recorded for this breed yet.
0.4 of 4 · C-BARQ stranger-directed aggression breed mean 0.41 (online sample, n = 349); breed-club sample 0.36 (n = 277); ranked 5th (online) and 6th (breed club) of the 8 breeds common to both surveys, where rank 1 is the most aggressive (Dachshund)
Toward other dogs
Not recorded for this breed yet.
0.6 of 4 · C-BARQ dog-directed aggression breed mean 0.59 (online sample, n = 349); breed-club sample 0.46 (n = 277)
Aggression, as studied
Not recorded for this breed yet.
Among breed-club Labradors, field-bred dogs scored higher than conformation-bred dogs on owner-directed aggression (z = 2.18, P < 0.05); stranger- and dog-directed aggression did not differ between the lines. The authors note this is the opposite pattern to English Springer Spaniels, so show breeding is not itself the cause.
What to ask a breeder for
Clearances
- Buff coat genetic test · US
- Juvenile Addison's disease (JADD) DNA test · US
- Progressive retinal atrophy (prcd-PRA) DNA test · US
- Cleft palate and syndactyly (CP1, CLPS) DNA test · US
- Ophthalmologist evaluation · US
- Cardiac exam · US
- Hip evaluation · US
- DNA: degenerative myelopathy (DM), prcd-PRA (good practice); CEA/CH, degenerative encephalopathy (DE), JADD (best practice) · UK
- Hip and elbow scoring; eye testing · UK
- prcd-PRA DNA test (optional, recommended) · US
- Cardiac evaluation (optional, recommended: advanced cardiac incl. echo for stud dogs) · US
- Centronuclear myopathy (CNM) DNA test (optional, recommended) · US
- D Locus (dilute) DNA test (CHIC requirement since 11/1/2016) · US
- Elbow evaluation (CHIC requirement, at or after 24 months) · US
- Hip evaluation (CHIC requirement, at or after 24 months) · US
- Eye examination by a board-certified ACVO ophthalmologist, results registered with OFA; annual for breeding stock · US
- Exercise Induced Collapse (EIC) DNA test (CHIC requirement; the dog does not have to be clear to be bred) · US
- DNA (good practice): CNM, EIC, macular corneal dystrophy (MCD), prcd-PRA, skeletal dysplasia 2 (SD2), Stargardt disease (STGD) · UK
- DNA (best practice): hereditary nasal parakeratosis (HNPK) · UK
- Eye testing · UK
- Elbow scoring · UK
- Hip scoring · UK
The health clearances each breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.
Kennels breeding these two
The selector
Which one, for your life?
A few minutes of honest answers: the birds, the ground, the water, the house, the week. The selector ranks both of these against what you said, explains every rank, and shows exactly where the one you came in wanting lands.
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