Walks with training dogs (for us) are always structured. The yard is for free time and play. Pretty much every dog that comes to us for training has issues on the walk such as pulling, barking, or full blown reactivity. If we allowed dogs to make their own choices on a walk right from the beginning, it would end up a disaster. Without a baseline of training, the dogs would just continue repeating the old behaviors that they came in for in the first place. Instead, we want dogs in follow mode mea