My chiweenie (13 weeks) is pretty smart. We are marker training. Trying to raise her like a “big dog” (sit for petting, no bounding off the furniture etc.)

She has prey drive and food drive and a pretty good nose.

With fetch, she will chase the ball a long way. But, she drops whatever it is about 6-8 feet from me. I have tried “not good enough, no reward”. I’ve tried running backwards. With a high value treat, she drops it earlier!. With a REALLY hi value treat, she won’t chase the ball. Just stares as you, sniffing.

I’ve tried two ball. It was a little better yesterday with tug as the reward. Like she was anticipating “biting down hard” so she held the ball longer.

As the AKC website says, a chihuahua is “not a working dog!” A dachshund “has a mind of its own”!

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

... With fetch, she will chase the ball a long way. But, she drops whatever it is about 6-8 feet from me. I have tried “not good enough, no reward”. I’ve tried running backwards. With a high value treat, she drops it earlier!. With a REALLY hi value treat, she won’t chase the ball. Just stares as you, sniffing.

I’ve tried two ball. It was a little better yesterday with tug as the reward. Like she was anticipating “biting down hard” so she held the ball longer.

To me, this sounds like the perfect situation for backchaining the fetch.

There are many posts about backchaining, in which the order of a chain of behaviors is reversed. (BACKCHAINING THE RETRIEVE is probably the phrase to use if you want to Google it or hunt for it on LB.)

I found one of my own about a simple fetch:
https://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=33448&page=1#379206

But I suspect that others will also have good fetch ideas. (In fact, there are many other good suggestions in that thread I linked above.)

Looking back thru old posts, at contests, at all of us…and thinking of the Pinker
who at the age of the chiweenie might bite me in a rage, but he could “put” his bowl into a rack in the dishwasher…..
I am thinking of all you guys, and wishing the Forum was as active as it was….you guys all need to get chiweenies, THEN we will have a contest….

Both daughters have had Chi dogs and I've dug to a few Weenie dogs when I was active in natural earth work with my terriers. The Chi dogs could be pretty good little dogs. The Weenie dogs, mostly wire hair Minis could be nasty with anyone other then their owner reaching in and getting them out when dug to.

Betty, I though I sent another post last night. Tossing the ball and hoping she brings it al the way back will never work.
Again I also think back chaining the retrieve beats them all and I've used many methods in my lifetime.
Your basically getting everything covered before you add any distance to the retrieve. When the "take it" and the "hold" are good THEN you slowly add distance.

Throwing it out there now is open to to many distractions. Gradually add distance only when the short retrieve is solid.

When I find myself not moving forward in my dogs training I always remember the three D's. Distance, Distraction and Duration. Get each one good and only then add another. Teach the "take it" with markers and reward quickly. She may possibly drop it quickly but that's okay. You GRADUALLY add time/duration to the hold. When you start throwing it you GRADUALLY add distance. Ellis has a really great video on teaching the retrieve. I know I can easily miss something trying to repeat all the necessary "stuff".

gradually add the distance

I remember teaching a Pug (who was absolutely NOT a natural retriever!) to fetch, and Bob's post just above contains all the steps I used (with instruction from Bob and others).

Bob said "Gradually add distance only when the short retrieve is solid," and when I said short I meant short!

After I taught Leo to put the ball into my hand, then I started a very short fetch. (I also started inside to really eliminate distractions.) Only gradually did I add any distance.

I still remember how amazed and pleased I was to teach fetch to a non-fetching Pug.

Connie, I remember Leo. Seems like yesterday.

Got nowhere with “take it”, got so frustrated I just quit.
Was sitting in the fall sunshine , eyes closed, and the dog began bringing a ball, pushing it onto my feet, like some old lab with a gooey tennis ball. I ignored the dog, mostly. I was trying to take a nap!

After awhile did a bit of tug. This went on a few days. I mostly ignored her, made her teach ME to throw the ball. By pestering me with the ball, pushing it on me.
Now she fetches….not a “command, obedience type fetch” but pretty reliable. A beginning.

With the "take" it command using markers don't worry about a command at this point. In the beginning with her in front of you hold the ball and mark for nothing more then her touching the ball with her nose. If she's understanding markers and knows the connection with a behavior and your rewarding her. As she figures out the touch gets rewarded you can SLOWLY wait her out for a bit more such as an open mouth on the ball or whatever you see as advancement. At this point the ball IS NOT a reward because she isn't solid with bringing it back. Baby steps and not being in a hurry gets you there. Take your time with each step.