Get the equipment accepted before it means anything
A puppy's first lead walks fail most often because the harness, collar, and lead are all introduced at the same moment as the walking itself. Separate the introductions. Let the puppy wear a light, well-fitted collar or harness around the house for short, treat-filled periods until they ignore it completely, checking the fit regularly because young puppies outgrow equipment quickly. Then clip the lead on indoors and let it trail briefly under supervision while the puppy plays, so the puppy learns the lead is scenery, not a trap. Only when the puppy is relaxed about the full kit do you pick the lead up and let it start meaning something.
Follow first, steer later
Begin in the garden by following the puppy. Hold the lead loosely, walk wherever the puppy chooses within the garden's edges, and let them feel no pressure at all from it — the lesson of week one is simply that the lead existing changes nothing. When the puppy happens to walk beside you or glances up at you, mark it and reward generously, because those volunteered moments of connection are the raw material of lead walking. If the puppy plants themselves and refuses to move, wait patiently, reward any step, and resist the two urges: dragging the puppy forward, which teaches them the lead means being pulled, or scooping them up, which teaches them planting works.
Build the loose-lead habit in your low-distraction laboratory
The garden is where you install the core rule before the street tests it: when the lead goes tight, forward movement stops; when it is loose, walking continues. Practise in short loops around the garden, changing direction often so the puppy learns to watch where you are going, and reward frequently at your side so that position pays. Keep sessions to a few minutes and finish with a game, while the puppy is still succeeding. Because the garden is familiar, the puppy can spare attention for you — attention that will be in much shorter supply on a pavement full of smells, pigeons, and passing dogs, which is exactly why the habit needs building here first.
Handle the classic garden hiccups kindly
Most puppies chew the lead, bite at it during excitement, or perform sudden zoomies at the end of it. Swap a chewed lead for a spare rather than battling over it, redirect the energy into a toy, and keep a second person out of the garden so the puppy is not practising while being called from two directions. If the puppy freezes at the gate end of the garden or fixates on a neighbour's cat through the fence, use that as information about the distraction level they can currently handle, work further from it, and close the gap over days. Practising little and often beats one long session where the puppy's concentration collapses at the end and the final memory is of everything going wrong.
Graduate to the pavement in stages
When the puppy walks a loose lead around the whole garden despite its ordinary distractions, take the same game to the quietest stretch of pavement outside your home, then build distance and difficulty gradually, returning to garden practice after any outing that goes badly. Different handlers in the household should all run the same garden sessions, using the same rewards and the same stop-when-tight rule, or the puppy learns that the rules depend on who is holding the lead. Sharing those practice sessions through KinsLe Care Teams, with lead-walking duties for the puppy assigned and marked complete, keeps every handler working to the same stage of the plan.