Zoe is a four year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever (or referred to as a Toller by those familiar with the breed), and I was pretty excited when I was contacted by Zoe’s owner about this session! We don’t have a resident Toller in town, and although a lot of my clients are from out of town, I’ve never had the opportunity to photograph one. Unlike other retrievers, the Toller goes about his job in a different way, by playing along the shoreline. This draws the curiosity of the waterfowl, bringing them closer to shore and within range for the hunter. They are still relatively uncommon, but if you can deal with their energy level, they are a wonderful medium size with a typical fun-loving retriever personality! Susan contacted me last spring about a session, but since Zoe had just had a litter, she also had dropped all her coat. So unfortunately we missed the peak wildflower season, but she still had a blast running through the tall grasses…wet or dry!
This is Zoe’s leap that she does when excited – often it is four off the floor, but in a lot of cases she just pops up with her cute white paws. 
Waiting for instructions from mom – she was a VERY attentive girl and in tune with Susan.
She was stunning in the flowers….
But we had a hard time keeping her out of the water…so the minute I was done with the “dry” shots, she went to the river like a bat out of hell!
She’s a little poser, and got up on this rock by herself. 
Who me, dorky? Nope!
Tollers have PLENTY of energy.
And a lot of focus.
And a Telluride session isn’t complete without Ajax as a backdrop!
Ending with a shot of Zoe looking wistfully at the river. What an easy girl to photograph. Susan, thank you for taking my advice and booking several days during your session in case we had rain…when you are driving 7 hours for a session, you don’t want to get rained out and then not have a place to stay! Even though we got these photos on the first night, Susan and I became fast friends and had dinner the second night, and she and Zoe enjoyed the town during the rest of their stay. Susan… it was such a pleasure, and you will have your gallery very soon, I promise!
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