There is no time line on the various stages of FF. Sounds like the holding stage may take a little more time for your dog. Dont expect the dog to take the dowell in its mouth and hold it for a prolonged period of time when starting out. You will gradually extend the period of time that the dog holds it as you progress. To start you will just say hold as you put the dowell into the dogs mouth, you may have to wrap your hand around the dogs muzzel for a few moments while saying hold. Then take the dowell out and then give plenty of praise. Then repeat several times for that first session. If he spits it out say No and repeat. Soon the dog will feel more comfortable with the dowell in his mouth. At this point you will have the dog hold it longer periods of time. Keep the dogs head up by saying hold while you place your hand under the dogs jaw. Later when the dog drops his head you can just rap the dog under the jaw and say hold. hope this gets you started. Be consistant in your training.
You can expect a trainer to charge you around 300 to 400 dollars per month. That is about 10 bucks or so a day. It can take 4- 7 weeks to do the process depending on how far you want him to go. I do retriever training on a small scale. I have a clients dog at this time doing the FF process and another one coming in this fall that is all that I want to do at this time (I am also working 3 of my own dogs) but if interested I would be glad to maybe meet up with you and show you the process or I can put you in contact with some else to do it for you. Let me know how I can be of help to you

Bernie Fraze