For many Service Dog teams, formal retrieving is one of the most important tasks. Unfortunately, it's also one of the hardest Service Dog tasks to teach. In the professional dog training world, a formal retrieve consists of picking up or taking, holding and carrying any object pointed out to the dog until he's told to release it to the trainer's hand. While it takes patience, time and a good sense of humor, you, too, can learn to teach your Service Dog to retrieve.