Agility for a shy dog

Hello,

I have a young basset hound who is very people shy.

She has been to basic obedience where she learned to cope with being around people but is still pretty stressed.

I have read agility can help shy dogs gain confidence and I was thinking about trying it with my houndy. I know she is not the most agile dog, but she is a pretty active 3 year old. I would like to be able to do something fun with her.

I guess I am curious if anyone here has had any shy dogs in various classes and how they have reacted and if you think it helped the dog at all.

I don't want to make her worse by overwhelming here either.

Thank you,
Lori

Hi, LorikB. I can only speak from experience with one of my dogs. She was quite an anxious little thing, and quite clingy in certain environments. When we started agility, she came out of her shell very quickly. I'm not sure why it happened, but it was the making of her. Lots of people patted her, but in a way that didn't overwhelm her. She got used to being in with lots of dogs, most of whom were under control and well mannered. Before long she was mugging other handlers for treats, and we had the opposite problem. My feeling is that, when she had a job to do that she liked, she was too busy to be anxious, and also the teamwork and deepening of the bond that develops between handler and dog gave her confidence. And that, once she had this confidence, her real personality shone through.

May not apply to your dog, as all dogs are different, but seemed to work with mine.

Might be worth trying to find a few trainers in your area, and approaching them to find out how they would work with a shy dog. You could also observe a few classes and trust your instinct as to whether your dog would find it difficult to cope with or not. Some venues can be quite cramped, and you might find your dog is jumping almost right into a queue over the last jump, which could be quite offputting.

i personally would not advise agility with a basset

..but there are lots of other things u could do with her.

Be very very careful with a Basset Hound. Their long backs are not very strong, and jumping can seriously injure a Basset. I have 2 Dachshunds, with the same restrictions.

Agree with the others on this point - the Basset isn't really built for agility. For some reason, I got my beagles mixed up with my Bassets, and I've seen a few beagles coping ok, although like other working dogs, they do have their little peccadilloes!

Not sure how to delete my previous post, other than disturb the moderators, but I suppose it stands as a post re the subject of shyness and agility...

Hi and thanks, I've actually been in contact with a few other basset owners doing agility with their bassets who cope fine.

I wouldn't be planning to compete so I had no intention of using competitive jump heights; just enough to get her feet off the ground.

You don't have to go all the way in agility with any dog. If someone is nervous about a basset doing jumps (and I would be too with those short legs and long back!), you can still jump short heights or just use bumps. Scale everything down. No one has to do anything at competition height if you're just doing it for fun and to gain confidence!

And I HAVE found that an amazing amount of dogs become more confident and more focused doing agility. I started last June with my dog, just doing it for fun. She was never a really nervous dog, but she's also not the most confident dog. Since starting she has grown in leaps and bounds in confidence. She wrestles with other dogs, she's become much more playful and much more willing to try new things. It's amazing what it's done for her and she wasn't all that shy!

I've read stories and talked to people whose dogs have become much more confident through it. I say go for it! You don't have to do anything at competition height and a good trainer won't let you anyway. It's well worth it.

I would have thought that any fun-based activity where most of your time will be just standing about watching will be good.
Make sure the trainer knows her limitations - some trainers get a bit close. I had to keep reminding one trainer not to `help` my reactive dog.
There is a yahoo group called shy k9s that is US based - why not contact them to see if they can recommend a local activity?

erm i do know that thanks

but basset hounds are not only short legged and long backed its the extra weight in their conformation..you have to be careful with turns etc its not just about full height equipment.......heck they are not even very good swimmers(before u say anything i have been doing agility for 13 years and also was a canine hydrotherapist)
there are lots of other things that could be done with this dog.

I have a very people shy little Shih Tzu x Maltese spayed female. She is four years old I started doing Agility with her last year and it has made an amazing difference in her. I entered her in a couple of trials last year, just in Jumpers which in the AAC (Canada) is just jumps, tunnel and chute and put her in Specials so she only has to jump 6 inches (she is about 8 inches tall).

By the fourth trial last November, you would not think it was the same dog. Her tail was up and wagging the whole time and I am going to have to run faster to keep up with her. She was not trying to run away when people came near her outside the ring and even let them pat her.

Even if you are never going to compete, I think it really helps the dogs to gain confidence as they are just out there with you, nobody comes up to them and they usually really love it.