A PLASTIC POT??? LOL! Sunshine had "The stupid plastic toy", (EVERYTHING has a name). It was a black 3 gallon square plastic planter, like you would get a shrub in from the garden center. She found it on an outing and fell in love, I ended up tossing it in the car and bringing it home. I tied a short scrap of co-axil cable in the bottom holes, with the tail sticking out the bottom. (another "toy" she found and LOVED). Man, this thing was a HIT from a few months old until just over a year old, when I made it disappear. She would stick her head in, grab the cable in the bottom (so her head was inside it) and RUNRUNRUN like a nut around the yard!!! She had no idea where she was going but it didn't seem to ever matter. She would run into trees, the car, bushes, the house.... She would bring it back and I could throw it by the 'tail'. This stupid thing was better than ANY other toy, frizbee, ball, stick.....
I say go with what works to keep them happy when wearing them out SUPERVISED of course!!! It might have seemed like random stupid play but she actually was learning. She learned 'come', 'may I see please?' (drop it), 'Sit' (required before anything is thrown),'GO!' (go git it!), 'Bring it here please' (come and drop it).......
My philosophy is NO unsupervised play time. EVERYTHING is a training opportunity. For the first year (or more with some lab pups) YOU are there to control every activity. Especially outside off leash activity, this is a HUGE training opportunity!!! The pup gets to run like a nut but YOU control the activity...
"Barley!" "Come here and check this out!!" Bend over and touch a stick, leaf, piece of moss... "WOW! This is really cool!" (remember to ALWAYS name the item, so they will know that name later in life) Throw it and play fetch or whatever for a minute, make it REALLY FUN. To end the game, my phrase is "This is tired now", meaning I put it down, touch it and we move on, it is no longer a fun item."HEY!, Let's go over here!!!" Move to another location, find something really interesting and repeat. He gets to run like a nut but is learning to keep an eye and ear out for YOU, because you know where all the really fun things are. He has no reason to go off on his own, what if he misses out on something YOU have!!!
Yes, VERY time intensive and most folks might not have the time. I MAKE the time when I choose to take a lab pup into my life. It also might be overkill for what most people are looking for in a companion. My pup goes everywhere I go, if I am not at work, and is rarely on a leash. I want an interactive companion. Many people are very happy with a come, sit, stay lab. I have no issues with that!!! I just expect much more and spend a LOT of time working towards that.