I am a 5’2, 98lb girl and I consistently walk a 45lb pit, 55lb pit, and a 40lb border collie with no issues on tugging. All I can say is that once I started doing what Cesar Millan suggested, the tugging stopped.
I make sure that I am the first one out the door and that the dogs wait for me to close the door before we go on our walk and I ensure that they are walking beside me or behind me at all times.
It is possible, it just takes a lot of patience with training the dogs to recognize who the pack leader really is.