How do I get my dog to give me back the ball when I try to play fetch with her?

I have a kelpie cross heeler who is 5 years old. When I throw a tennis ball for her, she chases it (like any normal dog), but when she comes back, she just sits at my feet and wont give it back. She has even growled at me while I was trying to pull it out once before. Any ideas on how i can train her to give me back the ball?

my dog does the same and i use to commands to get him to drop the ball one is drop and the other is wanna play again,
if that does not work get a ball the same colour and size and when your dog brings the first ball back show him the second one and he will drop the first one works for my dogs

teach her to "give" ,,, say the word, take the ball out,, give her a food treat....... this will take about 5 minutes to train.... make sure your food treat is very yummy and special

i taught my puppy recently to give me the ball when i throw it to her. i dunno if my way will help u but all i did was praise her when shes on her way back ,showing her that im over joyed and happy how cute and wonderful she is. ur dog wont get it at first cuz it took me about 15 days , but she will catch up .

Have some doggie treats on hand,when she brings it back tell her to drop the ball and give her a treat.

I had the same problem with my kelpie. When she brought the ball back, I told her to give, put a treat in front of her and then she'd drop the ball. Then I praise her and make a fuss that she's a good girl for giving me the ball. Then you slowly take the treats away. It only took a couple of days as they are smart dogs.

Put your hand on the ball, straighten your posture as much as possible with your chin high but stay relaxed then look straight into the dogs eyes with little to no expression on your face but a steady gaze and say "give" in an intentionally commanding and firm tone of voice - always works for me with any dog, even my friends dogs who don't know me.

If she doesn't drop it then keep your hand on the ball slide your fingers around behind it and into her mouth touch her tongue and take one little step closer to her at the same time while still looking straight in to her eyes. Don't move until she lets go of the ball backs away and sits down, when she does praise her immediately and toss the ball.

This can be a bit risky with a really large dominant dog because you are basically challenging the dog and claiming the ball - but with 99% of dogs it will work and they will learn that when you touch the ball they are supposed to give it up.

The advice of "switching identical balls" is good too IMO.

When you put your hand on the ball, it becomes a challenge to the dog, to keep it. Probably some sort of instinct, to when dogs might fight over food. Having another ball, or treats may help but, if not, try this: Keep a leash on the dog, at first. When the dog returns to you, have the dog sit. Then gently pull up on the leash, and say, "Drop it." Don't go for the ball. If he does not drop it the first time, pull a little more in an upward direction, saying "Drop it," again. Wait, patiently, until he releases the ball. This usually gets the dog to release the ball, expecially when they see that you are not actually trying to get it with your own hand, and they need to protect their 'treasure' from you. Tell the dog what a 'good dog' he is, and then throw it, again. Continue the same method, until he understands the phrase, "Drop it". Then, you can introduce other things into it, like the extra ball or treats, if necessary, but of course you might not want to need treats, every time you play fetch. See what happens between all. Some dogs will drop the ball halfway back, or not run for it, at all, so you do have an advantage over those problems.