I am working on training Mario through play time with his air kong. 

Several commands are at play here...  sit, stay, OKAY (as in go ahead and get it), and bring (as in bring back the air kong).  Well, Mario is obsessed with this toy, he loves it and just goes nuts to the point that I have to hide it from him when we're not using it.

I put Mario on his long line and kept him close, made him sit and stay, gave praise and a treat then threw the air kong a few feet away.  I repeated stay until he stopped freaking out, praised him, gave him a treat (which he wouldn't take) then said, "OKAY!"  He would run to get it....

This will take time to master, I know... my question is this...How do I get him to understand 'bring'??    Before I started training with the air kong, Mario would bring it back to me everytime.  Today, he would get it and try to run away with it. 

I kept repeating 'bring' until he actually picked it up and brought it to me... I took advantage of his long line to help reel him in.  I praised him, gave a treat and started the whole process over again.  He NEVER brought it back to me. 

I finally put the air kong away and did a few "come" commands and ended on a good note.  I feel frustrated about Mario not bringing the kong back to me.  Did I do something wrong or is this normal??  Need some help with how to deal with this.  Thanks!!