just done a search on using the clicker to retrieve.. this came up..thanks for that link...at the moment chester wont even touch the dumbell just stares at it....as he is that used to 'leave it' training .....i will get there eventully

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I had never used clicker training with any of my spaniels until last year when I got a one year old cocker. He really didn't want to know about retrieving and all the methods I had used for years on my dogs were failing with this one. So I read up about the reverse retrieve taught with a clicker and to my amazement it worked. I followed the instructions to a T and didn't skip any of the steps and the dog will now retrieve absolutely everything from anywhere. I am converted.
Give it a go, it is good fun too.

Thank you for a great link.
We are in the process of finalizing a formal obedience retrieve for the wundermutt It is all clicker trained and despite the naysayers telling me I’d have to introduce compulsion at some point in order to make it reliable, I’ve actually found the opposite to be true.
Bates’ retrieve is SO reliable that I have to watch he doesn’t retrieve cones or rally signs when we walk by them!
He has generalized the hold concept to any object, including food items like cheese and hot dogs, now all we have left is to pretty up the actual retrieve part for competition format. I love clicker retrieves!!