Dogs - especially active, herding breeds - don't get a lot of physical exercise when they go on walks. Dogs need to trot, if not run, to get meaningful exercise.
But while a walk may not be great for physical exercise, it's AWESOME for mental exercise. Getting a dog out of his home and letting him see, hear, and smell a new environment is EXTREMELY important for his mental health. And he should be tired after all that stimulation. It's like if you sit in a class all day, at the end of the day you're probably tired, even though you've just been sitting all day and haven't been exercising. Same thing with the mental workout a walk gives a dog. IMO mental exercise is almost more important than physical exercise.
The best thing is to teach him how to walk nicely in your house and yard first, before taking that training out to a new and more interesting environment. It will still be difficult when you add all the extra distractions of the neighborhood, but it should be a lot easier if you put in the foundation work in your house and yard first.
Yes... sort of.
First of all, I don't say "walk nice." IMO it should be understood. The
only way we walk IS nicely. Like how you don't have to tell me to go to the toilet every time I have to pee, I just know that that's the ONLY way to go.
Plus, too much talking - particularly when the dog is doing something you don't want - just confuses dogs and makes the training a lot more complicated.
If he pulls, there are basically two options:
1. Stop walking and wait for him to stop pulling. When the leash is loose, then walk forward again. This is a good method because the reward for loose leash IS the walk. But it can be difficult because EVERY TIME the leash is tight, you have to IMMEDIATELY stop; the dog should learn that he NEVER gets to walk with a tight leash.
2. Turn around and walk the opposite direction. As soon as he hits the end of the leash, you pivot right around and start walking, possibly pulling him along for a step or two. This is also a good method, as you're using the walking away to punish the pulling. But it can also be difficult to impliment, as it confuses some dogs; I've seen dogs turning almost frantic, running in circles around the handler because they have no idea what's going on.
No matter which method you use, the MORE IMPORTANT method is that you MUST reinforce him for walking nicely with you. If you're always punishing the wrong behavior, it makes walks very discouraging for dogs. They need to get feedback about what the right behavior is. You can use treats to reward nice walking, toys, whatever he likes. In the beginning you'll need to reinforce a LOT - like, every 1 or 2 steps - but the better he gets the less you'll need to reinforce.
If you do this, you're teaching him very well that pulling is ok.... until it's not ok. Which is extremely confusing. And if you teach him that pulling is ok, you'll never teach him that pulling is actually not ever ok.
The best thing to do would be to exercise him before the walk. Remember again, that walking isn't even very exercising to dogs; so regardless, you'll need to come up with a way to exercise him besides walking on leash. You could drive him to a fenced area where you can play ball; or jog/bike with him; or drive him somewhere where he can swim before your walk. You can get creative; but if you want to teach him to pull on the leash, you must stop allowing the pulling, right now.