Had a friend whose black lab pointed a pheasant. Dale kicked at the lump to get it to flush. It didn't. he kicked again and it still disn't flush. So, Dale lifeted the rice chaff off the bird so it could fly. That cleared the shooting lane for the skunk who hit both of them, Two weeks later Dale saw a skunk go into blackberries, to be followed by the dog. Shunked again. But, after the second time the dog learned.

In my expeiance with labs, which is probably similar to others here, is they can learn. It just takes a while. Sometimes days, sometimes weeks, sometimes decades.