diff --git a/src/backend/dataproxy.js b/src/backend/dataproxy.js
index c16f2cf4..8ce7c025 100644
--- a/src/backend/dataproxy.js
+++ b/src/backend/dataproxy.js
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.DataProxy = this.recline.Backend.DataProxy || {};
   // Load data from a URL via the [DataProxy](http://github.com/okfn/dataproxy).
   my.fetch = function(dataset) {
     var data = {
-      url: dataset.get('url'),
-      'max-results':  dataset.get('size') || dataset.get('rows') || 1000,
-      type: dataset.get('format') || ''
+      url: dataset.url,
+      'max-results':  dataset.size || dataset.rows || 1000,
+      type: dataset.format || ''
     };
     var jqxhr = $.ajax({
       url: my.dataproxy_url,
diff --git a/src/backend/elasticsearch.js b/src/backend/elasticsearch.js
index 1db060d9..17ee688c 100644
--- a/src/backend/elasticsearch.js
+++ b/src/backend/elasticsearch.js
@@ -3,11 +3,14 @@ this.recline.Backend = this.recline.Backend || {};
 this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch = this.recline.Backend.ElasticSearch || {};
 
 (function($, my) {
+  my.fetch = function(dataset) {
+  };
+
   // ## ElasticSearch Wrapper
   //
   // Connecting to [ElasticSearch](http://www.elasticsearch.org/) endpoints.
   // @param {String} endpoint: url for ElasticSearch type/table, e.g. for ES running
-  // on localhost:9200 with index // twitter and type tweet it would be:
+  // on http://localhost:9200 with index twitter and type tweet it would be:
   // 
   // <pre>http://localhost:9200/twitter/tweet</pre>
   //
diff --git a/src/backend/gdocs.js b/src/backend/gdocs.js
index bd855cd4..085ac385 100644
--- a/src/backend/gdocs.js
+++ b/src/backend/gdocs.js
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ this.recline.Backend.GDocs = this.recline.Backend.GDocs || {};
   // Dataset must have a url attribute pointing to the Gdocs or its JSON feed e.g.
   // <pre>
   // var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
+  //     url: 'https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aon3JiuouxLUdGlQVDJnbjZRSU1tUUJWOUZXRG53VkE#gid=0'
+  //   },
+  //   'gdocs'
+  // );
+  //
+  // var dataset = new recline.Model.Dataset({
   //     url: 'https://spreadsheets.google.com/feeds/list/0Aon3JiuouxLUdDQwZE1JdV94cUd6NWtuZ0IyWTBjLWc/od6/public/values?alt=json'
   //   },
   //   'gdocs'
@@ -22,10 +28,9 @@ this.recline.Backend.GDocs = this.recline.Backend.GDocs || {};
   //
   // * fields: array of Field objects
   // * records: array of objects for each row
-  //  
   my.fetch = function(dataset) {
     var dfd = $.Deferred(); 
-    var url = my.getSpreadsheetAPIUrl(dataset.get('url'));
+    var url = my.getSpreadsheetAPIUrl(dataset.url);
     $.getJSON(url, function(d) {
       result = my.parseData(d);
       var fields = _.map(result.fields, function(fieldId) {
diff --git a/src/model.js b/src/model.js
index 765c14c1..ab0d47b5 100644
--- a/src/model.js
+++ b/src/model.js
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ my.Dataset = Backbone.Model.extend({
     var dfd = $.Deferred();
     // TODO: fail case;
     if (this.backend !== recline.Backend.Memory) {
-      this.backend.fetch(this).then(handleResults)
+      this.backend.fetch(this.toJSON()).then(handleResults)
     } else {
       // special case where we have been given data directly
       handleResults({