Did you have to teach your dog to fetch?

[Southpaw]

Juno is not the greatest fetch player, so if I really cared she could use some work. She''ll go get the ball but doesn't always bring it back; sometimes she'll bring it halfway and want me to finish the trip, sometimes she just runs laps with it in her mouth. lol. And then if she does bring it all the way back, good luck actually getting it back from her... usually she just prances off again if you try to grab it.

But fetch isn't like.... something that I really enjoy doing with my dogs, so I can't ever see myself taking the time to train it, even if they showed zero natural ability.

[Shai]

Kim -- Naturally had interest in a thrown object, needed some training/encouragement to bring it back

Webster -- Needed to be taught every painstaking detail of the retrieve, from caring about the object (any object) in the first place to touching it to mouthing it to picking it up to moving with it to ... yeah you get the idea.

Mira -- Uh, no. I threw a toy in the toy basket a few days after she came home. I looked down and there was Puppy with the toy in her mouth, waiting at my feet. I threw a party and she was like "That's nice but really I just want you to make it fly again." Three days later she was retrieving in puppy class, right past all the other people and puppies.

[Laurelin]

Mia sometimes drops the ball annoyingly far away. Somehow she's learned that if she drops the ball too far and I tell her 'It's too far', she must kick it the rest of the way to me. She has this habit of picking it up then dropping it in the exact same spot. Nope Mia, it's still too far.

But most the time she drops it really close.

[Kat09Tails]

Yes, they had to be taught. Most of mine I ask to pick up/carry a great many objects that aren't as entertaining as a ball. I find that toys/stuffies/food like things are way easier than stone, wood, or metal objects.

[Lyzelle]

I tried. Zander was not amused in the slightest and mostly gave me a look that said, "Stupid woman". His interest in balls is zero.

He'll take things to people/places, though. Give him a pencil and tell him to go give it to Daddy or tell him to put his toys away and he's on it. But it is absolutely below him to fetch balls. Or even look at balls.

[JessLough]

No, she used to have an awesome retrieve. Now you throw something and she looks at you like "why you do that?!" and then tries to make you go fetch it

[Laurelin]

We only fetch fun things usually here. I don't really have much of an interest in formal obedience and real retrieves.

[Upendi&Mina]

Upendi still doesn't retrieve, it's just not fun for her. She honestly acts like it's below her. On the other hand retrieving came extremely naturally for Mina and she adores it, I'd go as far as to say it is by far her favorite game. Cara will chase after things and pick them up, but she doesn't always want to bring them back and will sometimes choose to amuse herself, it's not something I care enough about right now to really train a better retrieve though.

[JacksonsMom]

As I think you know, yep! It's definitely worked too. I mean, his first year he NEVER fetched at all, and I just thought oh well, I don't have a fetching dog. But then I started to teach him it CAN be fun. So we did training on a long line so I could gently pull him and remind him to bring it back. I did use treats to train it. Now he fetches indoors just for the fun of it, we have a super long hallway. But outdoors is still a work in progress. Frisbee is our next mission and it's coming along nicely very quickly, so I'm happy I've ALWAYS wanted a fetching dog. One I can just take to the park and throw the ball and have them bring it back, I just love it. Oh but surprisingly the one thing he's always had major drive for is pool toys, he always dives in the pool after a toy. Dunno why.

[AdrianneIsabel]

Backup, yes, he's uber possessive. Sloan, no, she is obsessive with fetch by nature. The pit bulls, I don't bother.