How can I teach my dog to walk to heel?

Hi, Bruce is my 6 month old black Labrador. He is becoming quite a handful to walk. If it's just me and him and no one else he is ok(ish), but if any of the children walk with me or heaven forbid we meet someone he pulls and pulls like mad!
He also still mouths people, strangers I mean. Most people are ok but it worries me a bit! Can I please stress there is no aggression what so ever! He just gets very over excited and playful but I fully appreciate it is not acceptable behaviour for a dog of his age!
We met a man on our walk earlier and he told me he used to train labradors and spaniels as gun dogs and his advice is to walk Bruce on a very short lean and take a stick with me and just keep it in front of hs nose! He stressed the stick was not to hit him with! He reckons 3-4 weeks and Bruce should walk to heel? Any one else agree. Bruce actually made the poor mans arm bleed by his mouthing but the man made nothing of it and said it was only because he was on wolfarin as had just had a triple bypass! Boy did I feel bad!

Help needed please!

Does he know what heel means? Also, there's a big difference between associating the word 'heel' with the correct position, and maintaining that at walking pace, particularly as our walk is a little slow for the pace most dogs want to go at.

What does he do when you ask for a heel, does he actually go to the position? There are quite a few ways to train heelwork, one of my Labs will walk either side, and isn't at all a puller, the other one is a little more driven, so I play games with her to keep her attention on me as we're walking along. Heelwork is one of the things I see such a lot of people post about, because they fail to train it and end up with a puller, which is harder to untrain.

With the pups I've got here at the moment, there's hardly any heelwork being taught, just rewarding good manners, one is six months old, but she just walks beautifully to heel, the other is about 20 weeks and he isn't quite there yet, but I'm working on him. But then I only actually train heelwork, when I know I am setting them up to get it right, so I can reward them. I don't train heelwork (or anything) when they can become confused and get away with pulling, which is the mistake most people make, taking a small pup out and allowing the pulling on the school run, walk to the park etc, I did this with one of mine, the one I have to keep more focussed now.

If you've got a gundog or obedience class nearby, it might help to go to some training sessions and help get the basics in there with him. Good handling really does help with heelwork, I know I used to be so frustrated when I'd hand Tau over to an instructor, and she would do beautiful heelwork for them, and yet pull like a steam train for me. I used to hate training heelwork, but actually, now it's one of the things that I understand more, I enjoy, and treat it as a game with them.

As for the stick thing, it wouldn't work for Tau, she'd just try and bite it, same as if you swing the end of the lead in front of her nose to stop her from going forward, she'd grab it.

The biting for me is just manners, and needs consistency, Labradors are mouthy, they are retrievers after all. Reward the good (calm) behaviour, it will get there, honest, Tau was similar, she still likes to hold my hand in her mouth and wiggle like a lunatic, but now she's learnt how hard she can hold.

The medication the guy was on thins the blood, prevents clotting, which is probably why he bled a bit like a stuck pig.

I would teach a Sit first (at home) Then when there`s a stranger approaching, ask your dog to Sit and reward him It`s called training an alternative behaviour.
For leadwork: there`s loose-lead walking, which is what you do on walks, and there`s walking to heel, which is what you do in situations where the dog has to be totally under control (in class or a dangerous situation).
To teach loose leadwork change direction every time the dog moves ahead of you. When he`s in the right place by your leg, praise or reward. Don`t speak otherwise, and let the dog learn to follow you. Keep the lead loose, not short. It is the dog`s job to get into the right place (which is why this method works well - because the dog is learning. )
To teach heelwork (and I don`t start until the dog is used to accepting treats), I use a nice treat as a lure and place it where I want the dogs` nose to be. Then you walk. Keep doling out the treats, especially when you`ve asked him to do a difficult move like a left turn. Then add the cue word Heel or Close. I teach Heelwork off lead. Some teach it on lead.

I am so glad I stumbled across Dogsey! Thank you both for your help! I am going to start with a vengeance and get Bruce back under control! I will keep you posted! X