Welcome Lisa, we are in Angus so not so far from you. We have a show cocker type, who is two and filled the vacuum left by Milo, the dog in my avatar.
Dylan will not retrieve either, those he loves to chase after a thrown object, and is brilliant at sniffing things out. He just chases after something, the. Either he drops,it or runs away with it so we have to go after him and pick it up. All my previous dogs have retrieved without being taught, so I am at a loss myself how to get him to retrieve. All dogs are different, so,guess we got one of the awkward ones!
Lesley and Dylan