My Sheltie Lacks Confidence - Big time!

It's a long process requiring lots of time and patience with dogs like these. You're doing all the right things. If you haven't, I would add some obedience classes to her routine for socialization more than for training. A class with smaller numbers (less than 10) would be ideal, and talk to the instructor first to let her know what you're dealing with.

The other thing I would do is to take her along with another one of your dogs who is confident to trials. Just keep her in the crate, don't ask her to trial, but maybe take her out for a walk or two around the grounds. She will sense your other dog's attitude and that may help.

I've had dogs like this too. It's an uphill battle to grow their confidence. It really is baby steps and you can't force them. Be gentle with your training but be consistent. She may always be shy, but if she's happy at home, her job may just be as a couch potato!

 

Your dog and my dog are soul-sisters!

From not feeling comfortable with shaping games (I honestly think she prefers not to have to guess what I want, she'd rather I just ask) to transforming from SuperDog at home to Clark Can't in new environments... right down to me feeling like we're getting nowhere, while my training buddies compliment me on how far she's come.

I don't have any great advice for you; I'm certainly not ahead of the curve on this one. Like you, I have some experience competing with other dogs I've owned. Like you, I had certain goals and ideas for what I wanted to do with my dog - and a sincere hope that I could help her become a happy, confident dog at trials.

As time goes by, though, I am re-evaluating those goals. It was hard at first, because (honestly, and this will make me sound mean) every dog I've ever owned has had a "job" or been "retired" after a long career. But my current dog is different. I acquired her when she was five years old, immediately after she had experienced a series of rehomings and transfers. She is similar to my previous dogs, in that she is very intelligent and loves to please. But she is different, in that (as far as I can tell) she missed out on crucial socialization experiences.

I recently read this blog post by Denise Fenzi. It really made me think about what Betty Cocker's ideal "job" in life is. Don't get me wrong, all of my dogs have been my friends - but maybe, for Betty, being my friend is the best and perfect job for her.

PS. Objectively, honestly? My training buddies are right: we HAVE come a long way together! And I bet you and your girl have, too. It might not look like what you had in mind, but I'm guessing that the progress is there.

 

With a dog that lacks confidence it's important to set them up for success. Don't keep pushing them into situations where they shut down - because once they shut down you've lost them, they become overwhelmed and they won't learn anything. The more you put them into a particular stressful situation the more likely the dog will automatically shutdown in that situation.

Find something your dog likes doing and focus on that. When Tully was attacked she went from shy to extremely timid. She was a high drive dog so I taught her fetch and we played fetch everyday. It really lifted her confidence, it was something that raised her endorphins, made her feel good and positive and confidence. It meant when we went into a situation that could be stressful I took a ball and played ball with her; even if it was just a few little throws on lead, it was enough that ball=confidence and that would be enough to change her view of the situation.

When Tully started flyball she spent her entire first session in her crate just watching. If I took her out of the crate she'd be overwhelmed. But in the crate she could watch with safety. And watch she did - by the time she was ready to come out of her crate she'd actually already learnt flyball just by watching. We did something similar with agility. I really recommend you just let her watch agility for a while and not pressure her into running. Just play some games with her at the side so she can learn to have fun in that environment and not shut down. When she starts turning up to training with a wagging tail then think about joining in the class - but only in small amounts. Start with 5 minutes and build it up, but always stop before she starts to get stressed. Your goal isn't to have a happy, trialling dog - first goal, a happy dog, second goal, a dog that enjoys activities with you. Having trialling as your goal is putting too much pressure on her and means you're jumping ahead of her abilities.

You mentioned obedience, do you attend classes? They would be a better option than agility, esp as she's already shutting down with agility. Agility can be a little too high energy for a timid dog, at obedience it's a calmer environment and she may be more responsive to that.

As for shaping, it doesn't work well for all dogs. Tully isn't great at shaping behaviour, but show her and she learns extremely quickly, my other dog is the reverse. You might want to check out the "do as I do" training technique.

Remember, as others have mentioned: Sometimes a dog just needs to be a dog.