So our puppy is now 16 weeks old and is mostly doing very well in his training. He has been very quick to learn sit, stay, recall, place, walking on a leash and recently he's starting to heel well. The one area I'm really struggling is getting him to fetch. It's concerning because although he's a house pet first, I also eventually want to take him waterfowl hunting with me. I had him really into a paint roller and a stuffed squeaky toy weeks ago (around 12 weeks). When I would take it off the shelf he would run over and know the fetch game was starting and be very enthusiastic. Well a few weeks ago he got an infection and it took him about a week to return to normal. Ever since then it's been a struggle to get him interested in chasing toys and obviously harder to entice him to return them. He's been otherwise 100% back to normal. There's a few things that could be the culprit but it's my first dog so I thought I'd see what you think. Here are my observations. He has started losing his baby teeth in the last couple of weeks. Even when he does enthusiastically run to a thrown toy his instinct is now to lay down and chew it. Has anyone had trouble with fetch during the teething period? He started going to day care 4 days a week shortly after he got better. It may be the case that he's just too tired each day when we're home from work? He does seem noticeably more energetic on weekends. I try to use his leash to direct him back to me when he picks up the toy. Walking or running the other way doesn't entice him to come to me. However, the leash just distracts him often and he'll begin to ignore the toy and chew the leash. This never happens during walks when he is leashed. His desire is really hit or miss. Sometimes he runs so fast to the object that he falls down. Other times he just walks the other way. I only play retrieve once day or every second day for 3 to 5 throws. Any advice or shared experiences would be appreciated.
Hi @Stefan Samson Welcome to the site Retrieve is a very demanding complex skill for the dog to learn. Although your dog might be too young, I suggest you contact @Jo Laurens re her offer raised in the following thread https://thelabradorforum.com/threads/my-free-online-clicker-retrieve-course-until-xmas-2018.25713/
