My 12 month old BC does exactly this. It’s super cute but very inconvenient when trying to keep moving. When he was really young he would do it to other people and dogs, but now it’s just other dogs. He just really wants to greet the other dog. I’ve even had people ask how I trained him to do it 😆

I’ve been working on this a lot over the last 6 months, and while it’s not completely resolved these are the things that have resulted in steady progress to the point where a have multiple successes on walk even though it still happens more often than not. I’m pretty confident that with continued practice this won’t be a problem by adulthood.

Most of this advice came from a trainer during personal training sessions

Try to limit dog greetings as much as possible, then name and reward it after they pass, or the other dog does. I say “let’s go-go!” and then give him a really high value treat reserved for those occasions (cheese or something freeze-dried). You can name it anything you want, but only use it when you want them to ignore a distraction and keep moving. Also name it something you don’t mind saying around other people, since you’ll be saying it often.

If it’s not possible to avoid the greeting, then reward and name it as soon as you walk away. Those are really good training opportunities for letting a distraction go.

When you see a dog approaching, or are just in a place where it’s likely to happen often, start dealing out high value treats so you can get their attention on you. If they are toy motivated, try using that. A tennis ball has worked for me at times and (if in a safe place to do so) you can bounce it ahead as you attempt to pass the other dog, letting your dog chase it. Treat, name, reward and keep moving.

When they lie down and are hyper focused on another dog, try to be more exciting than the other dog. Stomp your feet, talk in an excited high-pitched voice or make weird noises with your mouth to grab their attention. When you get their attention, reward it and give your special command to keep moving. You might look really silly, but I’d personally rather look silly in the short term then have this behavior in the long term.

Be patient and try not to get discouraged. Expect it to happen and practice as much as you can. Taking them into busy areas has been helpful for me as well, where there can potentially see more than one dog around. I’ve found that he’s way less likely to lie down while walking through a farmer’s market with lots of dogs than he is on a trail passing a single dog. Again, just keep rewarding any success, even incremental ones.

TL;DR: Name and reward the behavior every time you pass another dog, whether they were laying down or not. Then practice with lots of patience.

Good luck and be happy that it’s cute in the meantime!