The situation is this:

My boss has a Sheltie, who is very timid. He has never been abused, came straight from his momma to his current owners, went to all kinds of training, but is *very* timid around other animals.

Recently a co-worker got a rescue poodle who LOVES to play. He's 2 years old, but tiny, so size is not a threating. He has tried several times to play with the Sheltie, but the Sheltie just hides - literally under me, under my chair or behind my skirt. The most he reacted was barking and growling, but not in a playful manner.

How can we teach the Sheltie to play? He just doesn't get that he could play with this other dog! He will play with people, sometimes. He will always play, actually, with Paul, but with the rest of us it's just sporadically. Sometimes we throw his ball and he goes nuts, other times he just looks at us!

The poodle gets very sad, by the way, when the Sheltie doesn't play. The humans play with the poodle, but it's just not the same!