How to Teach a Dog to Retrieve: Are You Playing the Same Game?

When I was a kid, I loved playing with Barbies. I had a couple of Sindy dolls too, but I never thought they were quite as pretty.

I used to play with a couple of other girls and, although technically we were all playing the same thing, we actually played very differently.

They liked to divide all the clothes up equally and then spend the afternoon changing their dolls' outfits. I needed a theme. My Barbies were going somewhere. Maybe they were going to the beach, going on holiday or heading off on some sort of adventure. There needed to be a reason for all of this.

We could play together for hours.

I've been thinking about that recently because I think there is a really important crossover into how we play and train with our dogs.

We think we're playing the same game.

Our dogs might disagree.

If your dog won't retrieve, runs off with the toy, drops it halfway back or doesn't want to give it to you, it doesn't necessarily mean they're bad at retrieving. Often we've simply put several different skills together and expected the dog to understand the finished game.

Why Do Some Dogs Struggle With Retrieving?

Let's look at something that sounds incredibly simple: retrieving a dummy.

We throw it. The dog gets it. The dog brings it back.

Except that's very rarely all we actually expect.

We might ask our dog to sit beside us first. Then we throw the dummy and expect them to remain sitting while this incredibly exciting thing flies through the air.

They still can't go.

They have to wait until we release them.

Then they should run directly to the dummy, pick it up neatly, turn around and come straight back to us.

We might encourage them to hurry up on the way back.

When they arrive, we'd quite like them to come right into us, perhaps sit in front, hold onto the dummy and then give it to us properly.

If they drop it too early, we ask them to pick it up again.

That's quite a lot of rules for a game that, from the dog's perspective, might simply have started with:

LOOK! SOMETHING IS FLYING THROUGH THE AIR!

Some dogs cope with this incredibly well. Their desire to retrieve is so strong that it carries them through all the extra expectations we add.

But plenty of dogs don't.

They run in before they're sent.

They race out beautifully and then run around with the dummy.

They pick it up and drop it halfway back.

They come towards us and chuck it in our general direction.

They get almost within touching distance and then dance away again.

They don't want to give it back.

Or eventually they stop wanting to pick it up at all.

And that's often the point where people start saying their dog isn't very good at retrieving.

Sometimes, particularly with gundog breeds, people go even further and decide their dog is a useless gundog.

But I think we need to ask a different question.

Does the dog actually understand the game?

A Retrieve Isn't Just One Behaviour

This is the bit I think we overlook.

A retrieve looks like one behaviour when we watch a dog who already knows how to do it.

It isn't.

It's loads of little skills joined together.

The dog needs to be comfortable waiting while something exciting happens. They need to understand the release cue. They need confidence moving away from us. They need enough desire for the object to go and find it. They need to pick it up. They need to be comfortable holding it. They need to turn back towards us while holding it. They need to travel all the way back with it. They need to come close to us without worrying that we're immediately going to take their prize away. And eventually they need to understand how we'd like them to deliver it.

That's before we start adding distance, cover, obstacles, distractions or more formal gundog work.

If one little part of that chain isn't strong enough, the whole retrieve can start to wobble.

That doesn't mean the dog can't retrieve.

It means we've found the bit that needs more help.

Start by Making Picking Things Up Fun

For me, one of the foundations of a really good retrieve happens long before I'm worrying about neat delivery.

I want my dogs to absolutely love picking things up.

When they're young, I reward them for bringing me all sorts of things. Obviously there are sensible safety limits here, but generally I don't want my dogs worrying about having something in their mouths around me.

We trade. A lot.

If you've found something and you bring it to me, good things happen.

I don't want my dog thinking that approaching me with something means I'm going to grab it, snatch it away or tell them off for having it.

I want the opposite.

I want them to think bringing things to me is an excellent plan.

That relationship around objects becomes incredibly useful later.

Teach Your Dog to Bring Things to You

Coming back with something is a skill in its own right.

We often focus so much on the exciting bit — throwing something and watching the dog run after it — that we forget the return journey needs teaching too.

I want my dogs to be incredibly confident about moving towards me when they have something in their mouths.

That means I need to think about what happens when they get there.

If every time my dog brings me something I immediately take it away, I'm potentially making myself the least interesting part of the retrieve.

This is one of the reasons I love trading.

Bringing something to me doesn't simply mean the fun stops.

It becomes part of the game.

Build Confidence Carrying Different Objects

Once they're happy picking things up, I like to expand the game.

Different objects. Different textures. Different sizes and weights.

Can you pick this up?

What about this?

Can you carry something that feels slightly different in your mouth?

We're building confidence rather than trying to catch the dog out.

A dog who has learned that picking things up and carrying them is fun has a much stronger foundation than a dog who only understands one very particular version of a retrieve.

We can also gradually increase distance and change the journey back.

Can they come around something while carrying?

Step over something?

Move through a gap?

Come through a doorway?

We're not just practising the same retrieve over and over again. We're helping the dog become really confident about carrying something and getting it back to us.

How to Teach a Dog to Retrieve: Break the Retrieve Into Smaller Skills

This is probably my biggest tip if you're trying to teach a dog to retrieve.

Stop repeatedly practising the entire retrieve when one part of it isn't working.

If your dog races out beautifully, grabs the dummy and then drops it halfway back, you don't necessarily need another 20 full retrieves.

Work on carrying.

If your dog loves carrying but doesn't want to come close to you, work on that bit.

If they bring things back but spit them immediately at your feet, work on holding and delivery separately.

If they can't stay still while you throw something, you can work on steadiness without sacrificing the retrieve they love.

Break it apart.

Make each bit easy to understand.

Build confidence in each individual piece.

Then start recombining them.

What If Your Dog Won't Bring the Toy Back?

Before deciding your dog is stubborn, naughty or simply doesn't like retrieving, look at exactly where the game changes for them.

Do they happily chase the object but lose interest once they reach it?

Do they pick it up but prefer running around with it?

Do they head back towards you and then change direction when they get close?

Do they drop it as soon as they reach you?

Do they hold onto it when your hands appear?

Those are all different things.

And they don't necessarily need the same solution.

Instead of asking, "Why won't my dog retrieve?", try asking:

"Which bit of the retrieve does my dog need more help with?"

That's a much more useful question.

Make Sure You're Both Playing the Same Game

I think we sometimes get so focused on what a retrieve should look like that we forget to look at what the dog thinks is happening.

They don't know the picture in our heads.

They don't know that the thing we eventually want is a beautiful, confident retrieve with steadiness, commitment, a lovely return and a clean delivery.

They just know that something exciting happened and they're trying to work out the rules.

So teach them the rules.

Not by making the game smaller and smaller until they're frightened of getting it wrong, but by building each part until they understand it and feel confident doing it.

Once my dogs understand my rules and I understand what they enjoy about the game, that's when we can really start to play.

And that's when retrieves can become much more interesting.

So before you decide your dog is stubborn, possessive, rubbish at retrieving or simply "not a gundog", take the retrieve apart.

Find the bit they don't understand yet.

Teach that.

Then put the game back together.

Because sometimes you're both perfectly capable of playing.

You're just playing Barbie while they're playing Sindy.