My buddy has a well bred Lab pup that he is messing with. The dog will retrieve a bumper fine in the water but will not return one or pick it up on land when you throw it. Any suggestions?

The dog is still pretty young..

Put the pup in a place where he cannot escape (a hallway in the house with all doors closed).
Throw the bumper to the far end of the hall. When he picks the bumper up praise him loudly. He must bring it to you.
He will get the idea..

I have the same issue and mine is 5 months old. I just keep at it andhope he gets the point.

He could be cutting teeth. I would try something a little more appealing like a paint roller.

Making him retrieve in the hall way is a good idea.

Angie

Many times we forget that when very young they have a very short attention span, so if he does it right a couple of times..give him a toy, ect to play with and leave it til the next day or so..
make it fun but don't burn him out..It's all play now..DD

If it was a teeth problem it would hurt just as much on the water as it would on land. Throwing something in the water is very exciting for a young dog that likes the water. The splash of the bumper hitting the water seems to excite most retrievers. Try throwing a bumper on land low and with a lot of spin so it bounces and almost runs away from the dog. If a bumper doesn't work try something with more bounce like a tennis ball. The idea is to make it as exciting as the splash. The hallway is an excellent place to form a good return, but the pup has to be excited enough about picking it up before you can work on what he does after picking it up.

He is very young. He will pick it up at some point...My lab really became trainable at about 9 months.

Thanks guys, I know the dog is young and it will come to him; my buddy is just bumping his head wondering what changed. I am currently on my first dog myself which a year old and everything has been really smooth so far.

Keep the sessions short. If the dog retrieves 2-3 times on land then stop the game and leave the pup wanting more. Sometimes less is more for a young dog even though it is hard to resist playing fetch with your dog.