Buying a Toller puppy

Although becoming more popular, Tollers are still quite a rare breed in Australia. For this reason, it is highly unlikely that a breeder will have pups readily available on request.

Toller puppies are not sold on Gumtree, the Trading Post or Facebook. Dogzonline is Australia's only online purebred dog community containing breeder listings and puppy notices, and should be your first port of call in finding a registered breeder.

Online scammers are taking advantage of the increasing demand for puppies and targeting unsuspecting puppy buyers. For example, all of the Facebook pages below advertising Toller puppies for sale are scams and feature images taken from Google, Instagram or breeder websites.

All Toller breeders in Australia should be members of the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC), now known as Dogs Australia. As members of Dogs Australia, breeders are required to uphold the code of practice for breeding companion animals in their state. They are also required to abide by the Dogs Australia code of practice.

Here in Victoria, these rules require that:

1. The puppy should be sold with a certificate of registration (papers). Puppies must be registered before they are 18 months old but ideally, the papers should be available soon after you receive the puppy.

2. The puppy should be in a good state of health

3. The mother should be old enough to breed (at least 12 months old when mated)

4. The mother should not have more than two litters in 18 months, be bred more than five times or when older than eight years, without a current veterinary certificate stating that she is in good health at the time of breeding.

5. The puppy should be the result of the breeding of two registered dogs of the same breed and must not be a result of breeding close relatives together (eg. mother-son, father-daughter, brother-sister).

6. The puppy should not be transferred to the new owner before the age of eight weeks

7. The breeder should make every effort to prevent inherited disorders (as detailed on our Health page)

8. The breeder should supply instructions for the care of your puppy

9. The puppy should be microchipped and have its first set of vaccinations

10. The breeder should make sure that you are aware of the special characteristics of the breed, provide a current vaccination certificate, paperwork for the transfer of the microchip, a written receipt for the kind of registration that the puppy is sold with (Main Register: allows showing and breeding, Limited Register: allows performance sports but excludes showing and breeding).

11. Your breeder should provide you a means to remain in contact and gain information as support for your puppy.