My Puppyhood

Despite my surprise entrance to the world, my early days were uneventful. That's me and my mom, Meriwether (with my sister Foxy tucked behind me). We were 5 days old when this pic was taken. Notice how Mom is stretched out on her back...I'm told my breed likes to do that! My human says I sleep in this position often.

Back to the pink nose/black nose thing...Tollers come in 2 color varieties. My dad, Rudy, has a pink nose (but I hear "flesh" is the correct term) with amber eyes. My mom, as you can see, has a black nose with dark brown eyes. Both varieties have the same red-gold coat with white markings, but the black-nosed Tollers usually have a darker red coat. Both are acceptable in the show ring. My sister Foxy got our dad's coloring and I got our mom's (cool, huh?). My human thinks that black-nosed Tollers are less and less common, so she gets excited when she sees others on the different Toller forums she subscribes to. Personally, I think both varieties are equally gorgeous!


Here I am in all my one-day glory!
My coat color was lighter as a young'un and is getting darker now that I'm an adolescent. In fact, my body color was lighter than my face color. The breeders told my human that it would all turn to the darker red shade right between my eyes, and they were right! Once I lost my peach-fuzz, the new hair came in darker, much to my family's delight. They say the darker the red, the better.


I also have very little white for a Toller. Most have a blaze or snippet on their face, socks or even stockings, and a definite tip on their tail. The only white on my face is right below my lower lip (if I were a boy, you could call it a goatee!), and my feet look like I barely stepped in white paint, just the toes. But the funniest part is my tail...I have about 10 white hairs at the tippiest-tip! I do have a lot of white on my chest tho', which is good 'cuz otherwise people would think I'm a Golden Retriever. Which many do anyway...silly humans! Tollers are NOT small Goldens, and don't you forget it!




And here I am at 2 weeks old. My nose, pink at birth, has already started to mottle to black. If you look closely, you'll see my cool white goatee!