Puppy suddenly lying down/refusing to walk outside

[agirlhasnonameX]

Pup is 16 weeks and loves his walks, still wants to explore everything, meet everyone and is a bundle of energy and fun.
Suddenly at the end of last week he has started randomly lying/sitting down in the street and refusing to move. Has happened in all different situations including just taking him to pee, so I don't think he's scared of anything.
Have checked his paws and seem normal, one nail is broken but not enough to damage the quick.
He has a back clip padded harness, fits fine.
Otherwise he is healthy, up-to date with everything and when he's off lead/at home runs around like mad.
Gentle tugging doesn't work and he mostly ignores my cheerful attempts to get him to budge. He is food orientated so training has been great, but don't want to get into the habit of treating him every time he randomly lies down and gets up again?
Any ideas why he might be doing this/what to do when it happens?
Thanks.

Is it windy? One of our Lurchers hates the wind!

Mine used to refuse to walk at all in the mornings when dark so we just ditched the walk.

I also found he just didn't like walking on the street so we tended to drive to safe areas so he had a quick lead walk followed by off lead sniffing which was much more fun. We then reintroduced onlead walks when he was older and happier to do them.

Are you absolutely certain the harness isn't pinching skin and/or pulling fur anywhere at all? Clips can obviously commonly be the issue but also where it goes round the belly and where it goes between front legs can pinch intermittently on some harnesses.

I know you don't want to use food when he is lying down, but how about feeding him an entire meal as you walk along. So it's literally like a walking vending machine offering food (next to your leg) continuously as you walk along so it's not being offered because he lay down but it's constantly on offer for walking near your leg (great for teaching a food motivated puppy loose lead walking anyway). Then you just slowly reduce how long it is before food appears by your leg until you don't need to do it anymore.

Mine has done something similar from very small: flops down with her hips flat and waits. She also sometimes then crawls forward (looks pretty cute and lots of folk have remarked on it).

She used to do it most often when there were other dogs about, and I wondered if she was eyeing them up. It could look as if she's very submissive but I think now it's a waiting pose. I wondered at first if it was a flop down, too tired to go further thing, but when she's ready she bounces about as usual so I don't think it's that.

I just wait her out, have done so since she was small. She does it less now (7 months) but she still does it. It doesn't seem to be a sign of discomfort, or unhappiness (which I think is what's worrying you), it's just a thing she does. And as it's cute, she gets fuss for it which probably perpetuates it!

Did he come with all the relevant health checks for his breed?

I don't want to worry you but lying down/stopping walking can be a sign of hip or elbow dysplasia in dogs. Does he have any difficulty getting up, jumping up and things like that?

If it were mine I'd be taking him to the vets to put my mind at ease. It could just be puppy stubbornness or he's found that that's how to get attention, but I'd get him checked over just to be sure. The fact that he's doing it even when he goes out to wee shows me that he might in fact be in pain.

Mine did this as a puppy and it took ages to work out the problem.

In the end I realised it was always when he had a leaf stuck to his bottom or leg. It really was as simple as that.
Such funny little creatures....

Mine does this sometimes still (at 18mths). As Botanica says it’s often when she has something stuck around her back end or undercarriage - twigs, leaves etc, other times she likes just to immerse herself in a big pile of leaves or partcularly sniffy bit of earth. I wouldn’t worry if she seems otherwise happy!

Oh thank you all every post gave me a new idea, so helpful.
It has been windy and we do go out in the dark, but it happens when it's not windy and dark too, but will keep an eye out for this.
Harness is a good one and I've been careful to check it, actually think I put it on a little loose, not sure if that could cause him problems.
He jumps up on things fine, runs around and is full of energy otherwise, but hip dysplasia did cross my mind also, so if it continues will see the vet.
Leaves and stuff stuck to him is something I would have thought of so will watch out for this.
And feeding his meal whilst walking is such a good idea! I have been breaking already tiny treats into tiny bits so as not to overfeed him. Will be doing this regardless of the lying down thing so thank you!

Leaves and stuff stuck to him is something I wouldnt have thought of so will watch out for this.

I have two westies. One does this because she's a lazy lump who doesn't like going for walks. The other does it when it's wet as he doesn't like walking through puddles. Daft bloody dogs.

Mine still does this occasionally when he thinks I haven't gone the right way or if he thinks we're going home and he wants to continue his walk

My dog used to do this and it was because she was in pain (she had an internal ongoing problem that could not be treated and walking was sometimes very uncomfortable for her). Perhaps get your dog checked out by vet to be sure all is well.

One of mine did this about her coat....waste of money as she never wore it in the rain because she dug her heels in and wouldn’t move. She also does it when she wants to be off the lead.

The page does it when he has a leaf on him. As a puppy he disappeared one day on a walk and we were calling him for AGES. He was sat somewhere with a leaf attached, frozen to the spot. Just waited patiently in a bush for us to rescue him

It’s likely a stubborn or neurotic thing - either has no plans to do what you are asking, or is freaking out about an unknown. The worst are burrs on the fur. My boy is petrified of them!

The page?! The boy. Stoopid autocorrect.