For us, walking our dog is simply a "walk." But to your puppy, being a direct descendent of the gray wolf, psychologically, it's really something else. Wolves spend most of their time patrolling their territory, and psychologically, that's how your puppy relates to the walk. For starters, one of the tenets of the walk must be "no indiscriminate sniffing." The walk is about traversing, not tracking. When does she have the opportunity to sniff and so on? When the leader initiates it. (That's supposed to be you!) Release her to sniff and pee if she likes, then we're back on patrol. 

We all see dogs who haven't been properly trained, stopping every couple of minutes leading their owners from bush to post to tree, deciding which way the pack is going, but the walking routine doesn't look like that in a balanced pack. Even a "pack of two." A healthy pack moves, and has a certain momentum. But perhaps the most important aspect of the walk to imprint on your pup is that she mustn't lead. So as you walk together, every time her little body starts to get ahead of your knee, as you continue moving, give her a little sideways tug, as you correct her verbally with "no" or "ahh." This should draw her back toward your leg. Depending on the puppy, this idea of not leading may be challenging to get across, so you must be persistent. Try not to pull her backwards, but rather, sideways, as backwards pressure actually tends to encourage pulling.   

Ultimately, she will learn to heel at your left side, but in the beginning, it doesn't matter which side she's on, so keep things light and allow her to wander from side to side. Just don't let her put her nose on the ground or tarry. More next time.

A native of Louisiana, SRQ Daily Columnist Gregg Flowers owns Dog's Best Friend Dog Training Services here in Sarasota, where he "teaches dogs and trains people." Gregg became fascinated by our relationship with dogs as a boy in the '60s, and by 1985 had developed his own unique style of working with dogs and their humans