Do both your pup and yourself a favor and enroll in a basic obedience training class. Been around dogs all my life and was amazed at what I didn't know. My dog would do what ever I could get him to understand.
He quite often had that, 'what tha........?' look on his face.
Good luck.

I trained both of my labs after reading Waterdog, I'm not saying they're perfect, but they picked up 95% of the birds we shot in the last 8 years.....just another option if you do not want to spend the $$ on obedience training, which can be expensive.....GL!!!
SC

I just recently trained my yellow lab, Benelli, using a mix of waterdog, Tom Dokken, and Chris Akins' duck dog basics. I found Chris Akins video to be the most helpful for training; however, Tom Dokking 'Receiver Training' was a great book for understanding the mindset of a lab from day 1 as a puppy. I would strongly recommend reading it, primarily because of your dog’s refusal to retrieve. It explains how to get the dog fired up about retrieving and how make the dog want to please you and trust you. Benelli has done doubles, triples, and blinds with hand signals now with little to no issues. But more importantly these books, and videos, taught me to understand a dogs thinking which lead to Benelli being very obedient, trusting, and a great house pet as well. So much so that she can bring you a beer! ;)

How were the parents? You must get a book or video, b/c your dog will require force fetching. My dog could care less about a tennis ball or training dummy, but goes ballistic for ducks and geese, so don't lose hope. All is not lost. She gets them half heartedly b/c she knows we are training, but in the field, she is a pure machine. The books or video's will teach you to teach your dog to enjoy retrieving as a reward for good behavior. Once the dog catches on, it will do most of what you will need it to do in the field. Good luck and have patience. 15 minutes of training twice a day is WAY better than an hour once a day. TEACH, REINFORCE, CORRECT (lightly), REPEAT.