One paw on the brake, One paw on the gas

That seems to be the way that Linus "walks". It's all stop (when I've made him stop) or full out until I make him stop again. After trying to get him to "Hold" unsuccessfully, I decided to take a page out of Linus' book. When he steps on his leash, he stops. He doesn't understand what's happened.
Sooooo, when he sped up, I slowed down and the leash tightened. He'd strain and I'd slow even more. Einstein loved this. He got to sniff & mosey & generally take his time. When Linus would stop pulling and slow down, I'd speed up a little and we'd all walk along. Until Linus would decide to speed up again. I didn't yell "hold" or "wait". I didn't jerk or tug on the leash. Linus looked back a couple of times but must have decided it wasn't me because he stopped looking. Which was the idea. I don't want to turn our walks into a bad thing in his mind. If his little puppy brain starts to associate straining on the leash (& gagging himself) with something he's doing and stops, then that's the whole idea.
The almost sea-sickness inducing lurching (fast, slow, fast, slow) reminded me of flying my R/C plane. I'm still getting the hang of it so sometimes I'll start porpoising. I'll start to dive a little, over correct & nose up too much, over correct & I'll dive a live. Get the idea?
Same thing with Linus. Surge up in speed, slow down in speed, surge up, surge down. Eventually he started to figure things out, get a little tired, and his speed leveled out some. We had a nice stroll after that. We heard some birds (Yes, I heard them. I need my full attention on Linus so the iPod stays at home.), they sniffed some bushes, everybody had a nice time.
No scary things happened until almost the end of the walk. We had a jogger on the other side of the road. A cat yowling. Each time he looked up, slowed down, and then went on.
Right now he's sacked out on the love seat resting up for bedtime. ;-)