I have a 6 year old Rat terrier named Minnie, Minnie has always been my baby weighing 9 pounds I take her everywhere. Min had 2 litters of very nice puppies, who all went to great homes and then was fixed and retired. Min has always been very timid when it comes to people petting her, she'd pee and roll over. Also loud noises scare her, she would never sit still. I decided maybe she needed some agility training, but the problem was she really didn't want to be a part of a partnership. Any correction she would runaway from me, roll over and I would have to go pick her up. Then she started acting like I was beating her, and wouldn't come to me at all. She just seemed so miserable, their where moments when she was an amazing dog, she could be a great agility dog. Other times I crawled on all fours to get her out of a tunnel while she peed on me. I was told she wasn't agility material, couldn't do it and that I should consider another dog. But it wasn't just agility anymore it was not wanting to sleep near me, she was so scared and wouldn't come near me in the yard. So instead of helping agility had just brought out all the problems we had but hadn't addressed. I decided to start and slowly I made everything she did happy, what would be so small for anyone else made me exstatic. At home everytime she came to me it was a huge sucess, everytime she let someone pet her and hold her it was treat time. She slowly started sleeping with me again, other people could pet her. Still agility was not going well, it took us 3 months to do just small  things on a course, and I avoided using any words that would even hint she had made a mistake, everything she did on course was right. Even totally messing up was right, we'd back up and try to do it "right" again but she hadn't made a mistake. 2 months ago I got into the car crying because all the problems that had seemed better came back, I wanted to quit and just forget a year and a half of training. My mom didn't let me, and we worked and worked. In November me and minnie went to our first trial, and it went well. She got 4 first places, she wasn't nearly as scared.  I'm saying all this to show anyone who has a timid or shy dog, your dog isn't a lost cause. It can look really hopeless and can be upsetting when your dog misbehaves, or refuses to listen to you. Minnie went from being a problematic pet to being an awesome pet, and turning into a good agility dog. If your dog is timid give it lots of time! Every little sucess is worth celebrating, pictures below and not only does she do agility but she enjoys agility 

Me and my dog, who 8 weeks before this wouldn't even come to me.

As someone who has been through over a year of agility training with my rattie (Bailey).... this story really did hit home with me. Thank you for posting it. I love seeing your pictures and realizing the success (and success is different for all of us of course) that you have had.
Bailey and I enter our first trial the third week in January. Although I've done obedience training for 10 years.. agility is a whole different ballgame for us, and I'm nervous about it. Bailey is sensitive, and as you WELL know.. they sense our frustrations and fears.  If I become frustrated or scared, he will shut down and we may as well go home.  He's almost TOO in tune with me.  Please wish us luck...
As for you.. God bless you for hanging in there with Minnie and working with her to allow her to be the best she can be. She's lovely... and I'm smiling a big ole' smile right now.
Hang around on the forum.... let us get to know you.. we'd like to hear more stories!

If your dog starts to shut down at agility scratch, and back up. Maybe do the last 2 jumps on a course, depending on how many runs you've entered. Also if you take a wrong turn, you are already out of qualifying so make the dog right. Make what they just did the start of a new course, agility is all about being creative and making the dog suceed.