After a long time of walking with the gentle leader, and employing a little bit of all of the various strategies you see (leash corrections, stopping, blocking, switching directions, etc. etc. etc.), I've finally started to make some real progress this past week. Kevin was *very gradually* getting better before, but was still somewhat frustrating to work with. However, at about the beginning of last week, I just made the decision that he was *not allowed* to pull anymore, and since then I have been almost 100% consistant with becoming an immovable object whenever there is tension on the leash, and he has really improved.
A couple of things that I've started doing differently, that have helped me with this - I used to just hold the leash in my hand, relaxed (and swinging slightly) at my side, and I have been used to taking a very brisk pace when walking the dog, so as to get him a bit more of a release/exercise/get him more tired out/etc. Both of these things caused problems with training Kev to stay at my side. For one, by just having my hand with the leash loose, relaxed, and swinging, I added another variable that Kevin has no control over to whether or not the leash was slack. There could be tension on the leash for a moment, not so much because Kevin had moved a bit farther forward but because my arm had swung back a bit. Now, when we walk I put the leash around my wrist, grab a portion of the leash such that Kevin has a bit of slack if he is walking at my side, and then I hook the thumb of that hand into my pants pocket, so that my hand with the leash will stay stationary in relation to the rest of my body as we walk. Also, I have found it helpful to work on this while walking slowly, rather than at a brisk pace. For one, it's more difficult to stop at the moment there is tension on the leash if you're walking quickly. Also, I think when we move forward quickly, Kevin gets a bit more excited and is more prone to pull. We've started taking slow walks, and after a few stops, there's a bit of a lightbulb moment where the dog gets it, and it then becomes a struggle within him over his excitement about moving forward, but knowing that if he reaches the end of the leash he has to stop. The first day I started this approach, we took a full ten minutes to walk just from my front door to my car ("WE'RE GOING TO THE CAR!!!!!!"). It was hard for Kev, but he's improved much faster by working on this at a slow pace than he had by working on this at a quick pace. And, to make things even better, it seems that the mental work required of him to keep at my side during the slow walks makes up for the decreased physical work of the slower pace - after a long slow walk with no pulling, he's dog tired.
Little stinker.