Quote Originally Posted by Giselle
I firmly believe that any and every dog can be taught loose-lead with a simple flat-buckle. The problem is that most people jump ahead of themselves. Before your dog learns to walk nicely outdoors, he has to do it well at home. It's like training Sit. Before your dog can do it in your front yard, he has to learn how to do it in your living room, in your bathroom, in your backyard, and, eventually, you add in distractions. The dog has to learn that there's only one way to walk. In order to teach that, you have to start from the very very very basics. Be consistent, be firm, and be patient. How about exercise Fender a bit before you go on walks so that he's not so amped up? Then, go through your loose-leash routine in your backyard. Work your way up to your front yard. Do some figure 8's down the street, and then go for your walk. Even if you don't make it past the neighbor's house, at least Fender will start to "click" with the idea. Good luck! It can be very hard at first, but the rewards are well worth it!
this is EXACTLY what I wanted to say!

We do choose to use harnesses for walks, but our dogs are trained to heel. We first were told by a trainer to get the gentle leader for the malamute, but went onto training. we can speed up(say jog or run) and say "hurry hurry" and when we slow down we use "easy easy" and you have your pup heeling good. we had to practice in petsmart, at our home and on busy street. we actually need to brush up on their skills as we've been slacking on walks.