Keystone Tollers officially began in 2013 when Abby sought her first toller. She was incredibly blessed to find not just a breeder, but a friend and a mentor in the breed through Portstar Tollers. Truman, Portstar’s The Duck Stops Here, was an incredible family dog. Intelligent, gentle and empathic, he loved every member of the family and was especially fond of young children. Abby finished his conformation Championship and Novice obedience titles and he taught her about field training. Portstar Tollers supported and educated from the start, and encouraged our journey toward establishing our own line of tollers. In early 2016 our foundation girl Pippa came into our lives. At 2 years old, Manitou’s Posh Socialite at Broadway was everything we could have asked for and more with an amazing pedigree. We are forever grateful for the foundation she gave us in our breeding program. Portstar continued coaching us through all the elements of a breeding, and from that litter we kept Lotte, Portstar Keystone’s Think of Me. Over the last 10 years, there have been many influences on our breeding program. We have been helped, educated and cheered on by other breeders, stud owners, competitors, co-owners, trainers and more. Keystone would not be here without their support! While Keystone has been around for a little over a decade, it took a lot longer than that to build our program...

Abby's Story

My history in training, raising and showing dogs reaches back 23 years to 4H, neighborhood dog walking, and assisting a local rescue with strays, raising litters and wildlife rehabs. My most important teachers have always been the dogs. Rosie, a Brittany cross, taught me SO much about patience, consistency, showing up and the power of positive. Rudy, a shetland sheepdog, started a love for competition obedience, and taught me the joys of senior dogs, staying with me from junior high through college, kids and our second home.

In my 20's, I spent 4 years apprenticing with a professional handler. The skills learned by working with so many different breeds, personalities, behavior challenges and learning styles was invaluable!  I developed an eye for conformation and movement and became passionate about correct and beautiful structure for function and longevity! Best of all, handling introduced me to the Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever.

After college I found my niche as a Certified Veterinary Technician, and continued to offer private training for basic manners, behavior modification, and some competitive obedience. Over the years, I was loved and educated by a couple of shelties, a border collie cross, a collie cross and a German Shepherd. For a time, early motherhood kept me too busy for dog sports. As the kids got a little older, I wanting to pay forward the gifts 4H had given me. In 2013 I started a 4H Dog club. Our family dogs took on new roles as 4H partners, and I knew it was time for a sport dog of my own!

By now I knew the perfect breed for my lifestyle - athletic, intelligent enough to keep me on my toes, moderate to high drive but with a good off switch, enough energy to keep up with long days of barn chores and outdoor play, the ability to dive in to various dog sports, moderate size and grooming, a dog bred for biddability with the desire to work with their humans yet independent enough to think for themselves… I was finally ready for a toller!