Ok so have a problem with wren, she won't retrieve. Both the boys just did it naturally but she just doesnt get it at all. Bloody women is all I can say. :wub:

She will happily run after a toy or run on to a dead toy but as soon as she gets it she just lies down on it or if you throw a toy she will grab it, leg it and then lay on it.

Someone has suggested teaching the hold command and go from there.

Any other ideas anyone?

Hiya,
my way of teaching retrieve is to gently place the dumbell in their mouth saying 'hold' then take it & feed a titbit, this should be done quite a few times but try leaving in the mouth for just that bit longer each time i'd then leave it until another day & repeat the same thing until they feel confident doing it.. My next step is usually holding the dumbell in one hand & the titbit in the other close to them 'saying where's your hold' & see if they take the bell, of course if they do feed & praise highly! but i'd give the first part a go & see how it goes, let me know... I had a similar problem with both my collies but both have excellent retreives now. Its all down to perserverance... Hope thats a help & then if you like I can tell you what the next stage is that I do...

Have you thought of putting her on a flexi lead, and when she returns (which she won't have much say about) REALLY praise her!

I used clicker training to teach my wren to put a ball in my hand. I also used it to encourage her to pick up a ball and hold it for any length of time because she might chase one but not pick it up when she got to it.

I'd first bounce the tennis balls because she only seemed to go and chase them when I did that. If she picked it up briefly when she got it, I made her sound...not the clicker but used in the same way. She then got a treat. She learnt that picking the ball up brought reward so she gradually started picking it up more and holding it that little bit longer.

I then, keeping her and the ball really close, squatted down to her level and rolled the ball slightly so she could grab it and pick it up and then I'd take the ball from her mouth "Click", and treat as I did. This taught her that by placing the ball in my hand or letting me take it from her mouth, she got her "Click" and then treat. I gradually started to roll it further away so then she had to bring it back to put it in my hand. It didn't take long and she didn't have much of a ball drive at that time at all nevermind not retrieving. She has a ball drive now and brings it back and places it in my hand....when Sleet hasn't got it.

Wren adores toys, loves ragging them etc. she is destined for the agility ring but I dont want her to be one of those dogs that grabs her toy at the end of a run as her reward and then either buggers off elsewhere or back into the ring which at the moment is likely.

I have tried a line on a lattice ball which works but as soon as I take it off she buggers off again with it. When she buggers off with it if I go near her she just lets me take the toy from her, so it isnt a case of her making a game out of it, she just cant seem to work out that bringing the toy to me is a good thing cos then we can play tuggy.

Thats why I clicker trained my Wren into placing the ball into my hand for a food reward..can change it to a toy later...meaning she has to bring it back to place it in my hand to get the food reward.

When training sleet, before I started using the clicker, if she didn't bring it back properly, I'd just walk off. She wouldn't get a game or get it thrown again unless she brought it back and placed it on my hand. She'd be ignored.
Maybe your Wren has realised that if she runs off with it, you try getting it back and she likes the attention.