My cairn is 2. He has attended obedience classes and behaves lovely there. However when we are out particularly at the beginning of our walk he pulls on the lead. Sometimes he is worse than others (tonight he has been particularly bad) and sometimes I think we have it cracked. I have tried every head collar and harness and, although they help and the gentle leader in particular makes walking him much more pleasurable, he still tries it on. I stop when he pulls and he comes back into line but I must be doing something wrong, and now with a new addition I want to think about what it might be so I can train my new pup. He is not used to a lead and also pulls so I want to nip it in the bud ( I will also enrol him at our local training centre). Help!!!!!!!!
Jane

Have you tried the  'look at me' ?

put dog in sit then stand in front of him with a reasonably large treat let him see it hold it up to your eye saying 'look at me' when he looks at your face.. treat .
move on to stand next to him say 'look at me' when he looks ..treat
then try it doing heelwork when he starts to pull forward  'look at me ' and treat .
when he looks at your face when using these words you can move the treat down to your hip eventually you will only need to treat occasionally.
edit to add: this is a great way to start with a new pup too!

HTH

Roni

Do be patient - training manners on-leash is arguably the hardest thing (recall aside) that a dog owner has to train.  And if a dog already pulls, it's a lot harder.  My dobe has pulled from day one, and he's got gradually worse - but, we are slowly getting there (he's 3 now), with a lot of patience, and above all, consistence.  I still find that he'll pull on a flat collar - I have to use a halti harness, but sometimes he'll walk nicely without the harness; that's a sign to me that things are improving.  If your little guy comes back to the right place when you stop, keep it up!  It's the same method I use with Remy - on his worse days, I find I might have to stop a couple times, then stop and go back 6 or 7 steps with him a couple times to really get it through to him that I will NOT go anywhere with him pulling.  It does feel like an uphill struggle, but it does work in the long run for us.

Tain attention just like starryeyes describes - if a dog isn't paying attention - i.e. not aware of the owner or where you are - then nice leash walking is tough to get.  You might have to get inventive - my college tutor has a GSD that's a serial puller, and the only way she can get him to walk nicely is to throw in a command every 10 steps or so - a spin, a down, sit, and so on.  Also, she will only allow him to sniff things if he doesn't pull towards them.

One other thing - how much exercise does he get?  Most dogs need a good run every day, and terriers are definitely no exception - I for one find that if Remy's had a good run he'll walk better, as he's not trying to burn off extra energy.  The same is true of my other dog - she doesn't pull as a rule, but if she hasn't had enough running on a given day I can see her struggling to control herself on lead!

I must agree i have always found lead walking the most difficult thing, we always try sound aversion then wait till the lead goes slack and praise, but i think with any method being persistant is the key with pulling. I still find myself giving in sometimes just for an easy life.