There were limits on our early walks for sure, he didn't have unlimited freedom to sniff as long as he wanted or to flop down and do nothing. I also made sure he couldn't get anything nasty or harmful, I still have to do that.
"Leave it" is a very handy thing to work on early too and will help keep her away from stuff she shouldn't have.

But I did give him a chance to explore and to watch people from a safe and non scary distance. (he was terrified of everyone but us for months)


As for teaching easy and lets go I did it in a pretty informal manner.
As soon as he was about to hit the end of the leash I would say "easy" then stop moving forward if he did hit the end of the leash. When he got older I would say easy to let him know to ease up before giving a correction with the prong.


He did do a bit of flopping around on the end of the leash having a fit about it, but I just stood there calmly until he was done and once he was relaxed and calm we would start moving again.

I taught lets go by just saying it whenever he was tethered to me or I was holding the leash and we went from a stop to moving. If we were out on walks and he was sniffing something really interesting and I was ready to go again I would use a very high value treat along with lets go to get him moving again.

A lot of good advice here; also, I have to agree with the others that you seem to be doing many things right.

The only thing i would suggest is that if you walk the dog along with one or two of the kids (this is a great idea, for "bonding as a pack" and getting the kids on board with training): if you have to stop, squat down and offer a treat to the dog because she has hit the end of her leash and attention span, don't have the kid keep walking. Have the child stop and either become a boring tree, or stand near you so the dog's attention is focused in one general area.

Remember, Aussies are herding dogs. If her "flock" or pack gets broken up, by one person stopping and the other walking, she will instinctively try and reach the missing members, pulling on the leash and not listening at all!

Otherwise you sound like you are doing great with her. Remember, she is only a baby, still learning and will be a work in progress for a long time to come! (Just like kids haha).

@angela Good point on walking with the kids. I was trying to get my son kind of out of the picture, but that was adding distraction rather than removing it. I hadn't thought of that.

I think that a picture would really help us give you even better advice and help!!

Here's another thread I started for Suzzie's pics