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Once we start obedience classes will it be inconsistant to take our 'at ease' walks?
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Nope, reasonable obedience trainers do not expect their dogs to do formal heeling all the time, so it's absolutely not inconsistent to spend the bulk of your on-leash time just expecting polite, loose lead walking from your dog. You use one command for "at ease walking" (I use "let's go") and another for heeling. What I generally do on walks is do heeling when crossing the street or something like that, it amounts to probably less than 10% of our total walk. I feel pretty strongly that walks are for enjoyment and exercise, with a bit of fun training here and there. Formal heeling for extended periods is just unreasonable, and it's certainly not enjoyable for the dog.