timid/shy dog

Question
Hi Kristen,
I have a 7 month old yorkie and she has completed her basic obedience class.  She was able to learn all the commands quite quickly.  My biggest concern with her is that she is a bit shy and standoffish with people.  I'm not sure if she is shy or just indifferent.  It took her 5 wks before she would even take a treat from the trainer in puppy kindergarten.    My trainer assumes that her socialization was neutral. I exposed her to different people and experiences from day one but I guess I didn't do such a great job at that.
I was hoping you can give me some insights on what I can do to encourage her to be more outgoing. I have read that agility classes can help shy or timid dogs.  Do you think this would help my current situation or do you have any other suggestions that might help?  
Thank you so much for your help.

Lucy

Answer
Lucy, some dogs are just naturally more standoffish towards strangers than others. At just 7 months of age, she's still at a prime socialization age. Keep taking her out and exposing her to as many things and people as you can. If she doesn't want to 'meet' someone, don't force her to! As long as she's not being aggressive towards them, I wouldn't worry too much about it. There's really no reason for her to HAVE to be outgoing and social towards people she doesn't know.

I fostered a female German shepherd that was like that. With me and my husband and family members, she was a big love bug, but with people she didn't know, she would either totally ignore them, back away and try to 'hide' behind me, or bark at them. It took her 4 or 5 weeks before she trusted the instructors in the training class I took her through, too. Even then, she was still very wary of them, and there was one lady she never got comfortable around.

If you want to give agility a try, I certainly can think of no reason you shouldn't!