Last time I mentioned the basics of leash work for a puppy-centered on disallowing him to lead, keeping him moving and not letting him put his nose on the ground. This protocol re-stimulates a primal, wolf like awareness he already carries in his subconscious. For us it's a "walk.” For him, it's something else. He comes to see it as "patrolling his territory with his leader,” and it's one of the most important aspects of him deferring to your rank, because in his head, whoever leads on the leash is the leader. The reason we don't let him put his nose on the ground but rather, insist he only sniffs the air as we walk, is because we don't want to encourage "tracking.” We're "patrolling.” 

When he's allowed you to lead him a bit, you can select a place to release him to lead you around for a minute, sniff and perhaps mark a bush or something, then he falls back in, and we're back on patrol. When you've spent a few weeks executing the above parameters of the walk with your puppy, allowing him to sort of meander from side to side, start gently insisting he stay on your left. The left hand side is traditionally the rule, although it's the dog owner's prerogative. 

Use some sort of slip collar at this juncture. A so called "choke chain" is the right idea in terms of the proper tool for initial "heel" training, but I have an aversion to the term "choke chain,” because if you're choking your dog with it, you're not using it correctly. It's designed to give a quick bump on the leash, then release. Additionally, the chain version of a "correction collar,” because of its weight, has a tendency to slip down to the strongest part of a dog's neck. The best idea is to find a lightweight version and keep it adjusted up very high on Max's neck. The way show dogs wear them.

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