There really are NOT any shortcuts in dog training. There is a reason why training is done in steps & stages & each builds on the one before.

It is alot harder & takes 10x longer to fix a mistake in training then it does to take the time to teach it correctly the first time.

Dog training is not a speed contest & their are no extra stars for quick finishes.

Harley is too smart. He finds it a lot of fun now to run around with the drag line in his mouth and shake it.

I made a super thin light line out of bailling twine. I am a bit worry that he could cut his paws on such a thin rope but he has a hard time to pick it up even with some knots in it.
It works well.

When it gets warmer I will start to do formal training session outside.

Just be careful to not get your hand sliced if he is running and you go to grab it! I learned the hard way one time with a thinner line... hurt like the dickens.

That is why I have gotten so fast with my feet! Nothing puts the brakes on like a solid foot stomp. I've been working with Jethro, that when he feels that quick pressure on the line that jerks him off his course, he gets a click as he swings back and comes in for a treat. Now he is starting to turn back much easier when there is any pressure on the line, much less leaving pressure off the line himself. Another bonus, is that he is starting to link: exciting thing out there = checking back to see what Jenny thinks about what I should do now. We are at very early stages of this, but I am having a lot more fun on my walks with Jethro, devising games that build a default look back and check in, instead of taking the 'bit in his mouth' and going for it.

Give him something else to put in his mouth.
Or do whatever you have to do, but do not allow him to 'carry' his lead or leash.

I would put that bit of training right up there right along with the recall.

If one of my dogs happens to get a lead in their mouths it's only because it's gotten scoped up with a toy or retrieve object. But never ever do any of my dogs carry their own lead.
It rather defeats the objective doesn't it?

Yes, if the dog has the lead in his mouth, who is walking whom?

Ok, I am lost.
He never did hold his leash during walk or when engage with me.
So it is new and during his free time. That is also the time when he goes after the cat.

During our walk he will look at stuff but calmly follow me and refocus very easily. If he gets very excited. Generally if we are running. I stop, get him to sit and when calm, we resume walking and try running again. This is getting much better.

When we go in the wood he is happy to carrie a stick that he finds. Our wood does not have a lot of wild life other then birds.So he never did went after any animal so far but we do practice recall a few times during every walk with our best reward treat.

So how do I procede for this problem (hold the drag line)
I step on the line to stop him, say NO, then ask him to come and reward after.

Sorry I may sound slow to figure thing out, but I am new to this (drag line stuff) and very novice dog trainer. I would never let a horse with a line on.

Ariane, have you taught this guy a "drop/yuck/out" command? If not, this is a good time to start.

You can do this by giving him something to hold like the stick he sometimes carries in the woods... give the command "drop" (or whatever" and show him a toy or treat as a "swap". He drops the item and gets the reward.

I am using Leslie McDevitt's approach from Control Unleashed. You don't have to say No. Your dog is going to be stimulated by his environment no matter what. Start out with acceptance of that, and that he can learn to control himself when he gets stimulating cues from the environment. Look at That acknowledged his natural curiosity and interest in his surroundings. With this exercise, you click him for looking at things. When he swings his head toward the click, you reward him with a treat for turning toward you. If you can catch him the moment his ears prick up at seeing the cat, click for that and give him a treat. When he turns back to look at the cat, click again and give him a treat. You will find pretty soon that he is no longer interested in looking at the cat and he has his eyes on you, hoping for another click and treat. I'm not sure I'm doing this properly at this point, because I give him a click and treat for looking at me, and then we move along. By now he has lost interest in whatever it was and we are back to being a team.

With the drag line, I am using my foot like a brake. Depending on his rate of escalation, I will slow him down in degrees, or I will just step on it full force and he will give himself a solid jerk. Either way, I am not saying No, I am saying Yes (clicking) as he swings back to see what is impeding his progress. What I am saying Yes to is that he has stopped his forward momentum and is swinging his attention back to me. I then give him a gesture that means Come Here Big Boy! and he comes back for a treat. I am working on turning this into a default for him - stopping automatically means coming back to me and finding out what is next. The next connection in this particular sequence is that over-excitement at something out there means stopping and coming back to me to check in.

I'm working on this one with Skipper, because he gets over-excited as we get near a playing field. He starts pulling, hyper-ventilating, even squeeling a little bit. I just stop (its easier with him because he only weighs 20 lb.) and he turns back (Click) and then comes back for the treat (following my pointing finger that indicates he is to come back to me and sit front and centre). I've only been working with him for a few days on this and he is already pulling less and automatically checking with me as we near the field. He is a 10 year old dog!

Does that help?

Barbara, the drop is getting in some kind of a good shape, but close rang at the moment.

Jenny, I have tried this technic with Harley but he figure that finding the cat = treat, so he was on the hunt to find the cats to have treats.

Now for a good laugh. I was playing fetch with him, outside. He was on the bailing twine drag line and one of the cat caught the line and ran in the opposit direction while Harley chased the ball. Well that stoped him, but the cat had a flying stop too. He is all of 14#
Harley could not figure why he had stop on the way to the ball.

Later we did a nice focus session while the cats were playing in the bush and fence near by. He was very good.
When he looked at the cat he got a No, when he retunr his focus to me he got mark then rewarded.

That was very nice now if I can keep from triping on the line, that would be good.