Pikkinokka Kennels

28/02/2025

I love this little girl, still here at Pikkinokka Kennels: "Secret" Pikkinokka's Deep Dark Secret, 10 weeks old. One of three show/breeding quality females from the Lynk X Checkers litter.

11/02/2025

11/02/2025

Westminster Kennel Club dog show -- Toller judging is today! Good luck to all exhibitors and their beautiful dogs.

We had a proud moment already with this beautiful Toller "Hudson" CH Pikkinokka's Private Signal to Avatar (a Jack grandson, brother to Lyra and Checkers) and his talented Junior Handler and co-owner Braedy Cooper. This talented team made the cut and gets to go forward in the Junior Showmanship competition!

Congratulations Braedy! And GOOD LUCK!!

09/02/2025

Sharing an excellent short video of why the dog is built to eat and digest a raw food diet like the one we recommend to our puppy buyers.

https://canine.care/Dogs and humans are not the same internally so when you feed your bud, don't feed too much crud. real.dog/box

08/02/2025

So much fun doing 8 week Toller puppy evaluations at Monarda Kennels with good friends, lots of love and laughter! These puppies are so beautiful, so sound and so engaging! Green boy, now "Bromley" *Pikkinokka's Dark Waters* has headed off to a wonderful co-own show and performance home with a new Toller enthusiast.
Some pups are leaving soon for new homes, while three are staying here for us to watch for potential breeding/show homes. We will share updates as they develop and mature. Thank you Malinda Scott for these great photos of the puppies.

06/02/2025

Final evaluations this week. It will kill me to put some of these birdy puppies in pet homes. Where are my hunters?

04/02/2025

What we mean when we say we use "limited vaccinations" --

When we use the term "limited vaccine" it means we are careful to use only the vaccinations needed to protect our puppies without guessing or using vaccinations that are unnecessary. My vet uses the term "informed vaccinations".

Tollers are a breed which has a higher incidence of auto-immune disease. We address this in our breeding program by careful use of pedigrees, including the introduction of the Little River Duck Dog into our breeding program, and by using and recommending fresh, unprocessed raw food diet -- and by vaccinating effectively.

In the first few hours after birth, puppies drink colostrum (their mother's first milk) and they gain "maternal immunity" to common puppy diseases. At some point after the pups leave their mom, this maternal immunity wanes, but as long as it exists, it stops the first puppy needles from working. This is called "maternal interference". Vets give what is called "the puppy series" of needles to address this interference -- from 6 weeks to 16 weeks, they vaccinate every few weeks in the hopes of finding the "window of immunity" in which a vaccination will work for the puppy.

We don't guess. We have our vet draw blood from the mom and send it to the University of Wisconsin vet school to have it tested. This is called a nomograph. The testing tells us when the maternal immunity will wane enough to allow a vaccination to work. Because of this test, we can avoid giving vaccinations that are not guaranteed to work. We give one --and only one -- effective vaccination.

We also ask our puppy buyers to avoid annual vaccinations. Research has shown that once vaccination is proven effective in the first year, that immunity can be good for life. We recommend getting your vet to run a titre test 30 days following the first puppy vaccine to prove that this vaccination was effective and then to repeat this titre testing every 3 years. A vaccine should only be given when the immunity levels are no longer protective.

We also do not recommend giving vaccinations which may not be necessary. We don't use the rabies needle, for example, unless it is required for travel. Rabies is not mandated by law in BC because the risk of contracting it here is so low. There has not been a case of rabies in dogs in BC for over 45 years.

We encourage our buyers, to ask questions about risk of reaction to a vaccine vs the actual risk of contracting the disease.

We have found that reducing unnecessary vaccinations and making the effort to feed a fresh raw food diet has given us an enviable record of health in our Tollers. If it sounds challenging, I am always available to my puppy families to answer questions and offer support.

04/02/2025

Tollers puppies are 7 weeks old and are pretty much fully-weaned. Any time they spend with Checkers is her avoiding them, telling them off or finally resigning herself to letting them nurse. She spends most of her time away from them. I am their "new mama"! She is thin so she is getting extra food everyday. Pups are eating two meals a day: usually a breakfast of ground mix and then a supper meal of raw meaty bones, usually chicken frames or a chicken back each or whole mackerel cut into small pieces. The ground mix is ground raw chicken backs, raw beef liver, raw green tripe, raw pink salmon or mackerel (previously frozen), whole raw eggs, pork meat scraps and various veggies including cooked yams or squash, dark green lettuce, Swiss Chard, coleslaw mix (I freeze when it is going off), and stalks and trimmings from fresh veggies I prepare for us humans. Every afternoon they snack on goats milk and they get raw meaty bones, like the pork scapulas, in their individual kennels as we introduce crate training. Puppies will be ready to go after vet check and a vaccine (as indicated by mom's nomograph from the University of Wisconsin vet laboratory) on February 14th. Thirty years raw-fed and minimal vaccines -- I'm happy to discuss these pups, and how we raise them, if you email me at [email protected]

02/02/2025

Another mild day, puppies spending time outside with Checkers. She kept trying to lead them out to romp in the yard and would get a little Pied Piper Parade going...but they have reached that stage where they love people more than their mama! They want to stay close to me, even if I am on the other side of the gate or out on the porch above them trying to get some photos. Oh! They are just so cute! I love them all!

01/02/2025

Just heard of the passing of one of my Toller girls, who was in one of my best retirement homes. "Stella", who was retired with the Maybon family, spent her days as a very-loved family pet and accomplished hunting companion. She will be missed.
🌟CH Daintree's Diamond Wake 🌟
September 1, 2010 to January 2025.

So proud of our Stella who retired as a family and hunting dog after raising her lovely litters here at Pikkinokka. Her family writes: Stella started retrieving her 2nd time out! She has been amazing. We absolutely love her and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. I have never seen an animal display so much pure joy! She is the happiest dog I have ever seen. I think her favorite activity is chasing squirrels but she loves playing with anyone who is willing - even our cat.

01/02/2025

A throwback to one of my all-time favourite puppy moments!

01/02/2025

I started working with Jim Jeffery of Little River kennels in 2007. Over the years we had many many Toller discussions, not just about their versatility, genetics, pedigrees, and overall health, but the history of the dogs and of the many people in this area of Nova Scotia that were involved in the development of the Little River Duck Dog that is now known worldwide as the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

In 2018 I decided to take on a project that I knew meant a lot to Jim. He had told me many times that he always regretted that he was unable to convince Eddie Babine and Andy Wallace both avid hunters to register their Tollers. Many early breeders did not think it was important or necessary to register their Tollers during the CKC’s re-recognition process in the early 1960’s and thus their dogs never entered the CKC breeding pool.
I started looking for intact ‘Little River’s’ (that’s what they are called here in Yarmouth County). I posted on my personal page that I was looking for intact Little Rivers from Wallace, Babine & Armstrong.
As most owners of Little Rivers around here now days don’t rely on their dogs to literally help put food on the table nor are they breeders, they choose to spay or neuter their dogs .
I was only looking in this area of South West Nova Scotia because I knew this would be the only area I could trace.
I was fortunate to find Poppy from the Andy Wallace bloodline, and Oakley from the Eddie Babine line. I found an intact male from the Armstrong line but he was 17 year old.

In 2019 I wrote to the CKC with my proposal and I cited two facts. One to register these two historically documented bloodlines and acknowledge their breeders for their years of dedication to the breed before their bloodlines were gone and only referred to in the history books, and secondly if this project could somehow in someway aid to help the Toller gene pool which is still very small compared to other breeds.

The CKC was very supportive of my project and in 2022 after ++ genetic testing, and what felt like hundreds of emails and then finally hands on examinations by CKC judges, Poppy and Oakley were recognized by the CKC under the Indigenous Dog Act of Canada as CKC registered Poppy of Wallace, and CKC registered Oakley of Babine.

In 2022 I decided that me living in rural Yarmouth Co Nova Scotia if this project was to be of any benefit to the Toller world I needed to bring it public. I created a private Facebook group of which dedicated breeders veterinarians and geneticist from around the world have joined.

When I started the group there were a few preservation breeders with decades of experience that went out of their way with support.
Til Niquidet, British Columbia Canada, Laura White, Texas, USA, Terry McNamee, Ontario Canada, Chris Eelman, The Netherlands, and Professor of Geneticist Claire Wade, University of Sydney Australia who wrote a letter for me to add to the documentation I submitted to the CKC.

On December 18, 2022 Lisa (Wallace)& Dan Goodwins dog Poppy gave birth to the 1st CKC registered litter of Poppy of Wallace & Oakley of Babine.

I sent Foggybay’s Lynk to the future to Til in BC and Foggybay’s DeLorean back to the future to Laura in Texas.
Chris Eelman (Netherlands) and Hilkka Makitalo (Finland) came to Lisa & Dan’s house to pick up their pups Sage (F) and Mesi (M)

In December 2024 Link and Pikkinokka Checkers produced a beautiful litter of the first generation Wallace Babine Pikkinokka outcross.

When I think of this project, I smile and think of Jim and how proud he was of our ‘Yarmouth Toller’ the ‘Little River Duck Dog’ now forever known as the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever and I think of this he told me:

“I feel the same way about Tollers today as I did back in 1969 when I started out. I am so proud that the breed was developed here, (Yarmouth, Nova Scotia) where I was born, in a place I have always been proud to call home. They are what we are we share the same heritage.”
-Jim Jeffery

Another circle is complete my friend ⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️

Below is from Til:

Six week photos of the first generation outcross to a Wallace-Babine Little River Duck Dog. Please note topline, tails, angles, square rears. My mentor would have identified this as a "Hybrid Vigour" litter, which gives you a "flourish of quality." She would have been so excited by this project and so pleased with this quality. Thank you to Malinda Scott for the excellent photos and unending support! ❤️

Where those level toplines come from...Checkers first day outside with her puppies.

Til Niquidet of Pikkinokka Kennels
⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️⭕️

01/02/2025

Puppies learned about big bones today! They spent the afternoon chewing on pork scapulas and listened to forest noises. While they chewed, moaned and played keep-away with the bones, I took advantage by sweeping and mopping. Usually chasing the broom and killing the mop are more desirable than any other puppy activity but today that could not compete with raw meaty bones!

31/01/2025

Breeder Green Flags:
*Provides registration from an organization/kennel club with proof of pedigree (note: in Canada, registration is required by law.)
*Proves their dogs in some manner, whether it in companion/show, work, sports, etc.
*Provides ENS/puppy culture programs
*Will pick the puppy for you based on temperament and the needs your family has for a dog
*Provides all vaccination/deworming and health records with the puppies when they go home
*Starts puppies on crate and potty training
*Parents are health tested with all necessary tests according to their breed + then some, including genetic/hereditary conditions, and this information is accessible online through OFA.org , CHIC, PawPrint Genetics, etc.
*Only has a few litters per year, 1-3 maybe, depending on the size of their program/supports available/breed of the dogs
*Will have a contract, with stipulations such as a lifetime return policy

30/01/2025

Looking for temperament? This is our darling "Lync", who is the father of our 6 week old puppies!

29/01/2025

Busy day for 6 week old Toller puppies! Pups spent individual alone time with me in the kitchen, so I could watch them explore independently. They learned to come when called and practiced sitting for treats. We spent time with a goose wing -- there were some scattered feathers! And we finished up with nail cutting and deworming for each puppy. As each pup was done, he or she was introduced to the new pen in our dining room. Lots of new experiences, including each being carried back to Checkers for a nurse before dinner of raw chicken back pieces and goats milk.

27/01/2025

Where those level toplines come from...Checkers first day outside with her puppies.

25/01/2025

Six week evaluation photos. This is a beautifully constructed litter! Particularly strong: level toplines, some beautiful shoulders, square rears, high tails, beautiful heads and cheerful, happy temperaments! We have several show/breeding potential males, one clearly hunting potential male, three show/breeding quality females (two with hunting potential) and one clearly performance potential male (possible show potential). Can I say "just wow"?
Thank you Malinda Scott for the excellent photos and unending support. The girls are Red, Purple and White. The boys are Light Blue, Medium Blue, Navy, Silver, Gold and Green.