Your dogs timidness could be through poor socialising, which has always happened a lot for some reason in lurcherdom..grown men playing with puppies, tut tut, shouldnt hear of such a thing. But, in reality, there is a critical time for proper socialising for a dog, to establish a lasting relationship with their owner (man) their environment other dogs etc..from birth to 4 weeks its been the bitches job with the pups, from 4 weeks all pups will be showing signes of socialising, they will wag their tails when you go near them, they will bark at you when you approach, this is where we capitalise