I'm pretty sure Homer was born with a ball in his mouth. As far as he's concerned throwing balls and giving treats are humans sole purpose to the world - and all the better if he can train them up young. Here he is giving his ball back to my little niece for her to pick up and 'throw' back to him.
Edsel fetched a stick for me when we picked him up at the breeder's to bring him home at 9 weeks. He has never stopped. It's simply what he does. We have to occasionally just put him on a "no fetch" plan for a day or two to get him to move on to other endeavors and ways of play. He'd rather fetch than eat. Which is saying something for a lab.
Both Tilly and Cooper would chase balls when they were very small pups. They would often bring them back, but not always. Throwing tennis balls into the lake was one of the ways we got them more interested in swimming as opposed to just wading.
I can't remember when she started but Meg was very young would fetch till the cows come home...even longere in water. I don't let her play fetch games much though...and have taught her a "game over " cue. She becomes soooo obsessed there is nothing left between us ...also she will spring up like a gizelle and I worry and will hurt herself....fetch games are now an occasional treat...and we are both less stressed about the ball now
Buddy was fetching since around 8 weeks. He just instinctively got it. I practiced a lot with him inside starting with only a couple of feet and extending it to the hallway before taking it outside. Still, at 5 months he still is bad at dropping the ball!
I've been working with Finn fetching from the water, and now he LOVES it. He even does the little dance before I throw it, which is a huge improvement to his previous blank stare. Last night I started getting him to bring the ball back to me in the house and it looked like the light bulb *might* have gone off that bringing it to ME and not his bed to chew on is the best way to go I have to use some commands like "go get it!" "bring it here!" so he understands what to do sometimes. But I think we might be getting somewhere....
But to answer the original question, I got him at 3 months and now at 6 months he is kind of developing the focus to do it. He was too all over the place attention wise before to really do it.
We use "last one" here to let him know the game is done. He will try to move on to another person if one is available but will give up if told "leave it." He's not at all pleased, but grudgingly compliant.
At least he is compliant and listens when told to "leave it" They are always more than happy to look for the next person up when their humans get tired of playing.
