Linda;
Keep in mind a lot of people who show are ranchers. If this is the case the chin wouldn't have gotten "play time" or handled. Wasn't given treats, etc. I've gotten plenty of rancher raised chins who settle in like a charm, and some "hobby" breeder chins who I don't even try to handle anymore because it stresses them out too much.
I'm well aware this chin may have come from a rancher, and if so, this owner needs to know and understand that. Call me naive, but I think any breeder (rancher or not) should disclose a bit about the chin including its temperament and current environment especially when selling it as a pet. So I believe a person buying a pet from any source (pet store, hobby breeder, rancher, etc.) should do what they can to learn about that animal's environment before coming to them. And I believe the person selling that animal (pet store employee, hobby breeder, rancher, etc.) should share what they know about that pet when selling it. To me it's all about the pet.
The new owner needs to look at the pet from the perspective of the pet. The animal has no idea why its circumstances have changed. Take this chin. Let's say it was in a run at a rancher's. It's been living a mostly solitary life if being prepped for a show. It didn't have play time. Let's say it wasn't expected or really given the opportunity to interact with humans to any extent. Its life was consistent, and it was comfortable with that life.
Now its sold to someone who expects it to immediately want to interact. I recommend a pet owner understand from what environment it came, and help to meet the chin's expectations for its environment. Forget what you expect from the chin. See what the chin expects from you. You know what happened to the chin's world and why. They don't have that same reasoning process, so you need to go the extra mile to make them comfortable. Meet those expectations until the chin is comfortable and only then try to start expanding its behavior to meet your expectations.
And a chin from a rancher would have many of the same lack of socialization characteristics that a chin from a pet store would have except pet store chins are used to frequent interruptions, banging on the glass, random toys, etc. And hobby breeders, backyard breeders, etc. run the entire gamut.
I took in a pair of rescue chins (my first chins since I was a child). These chins are still learning to interact with me after the better part of a year. I then purchased a pair of very well socialized and actually demanding chins. I had entirely different expectations for the two pairs knowing where they came from, both are meeting my expectations, and I hope I am meeting theirs. Both pairs have adjusted well, but I knew what environment they came from and adjusted my expectations to meet what they were used to. Both pairs are still very different in how they interact with me, and I really don't expect the rescues to ever want the human interaction the other pair does.
In my opinion, that needs to happen here. I don't know who this chin was bought from, but I believe the owner needs to have a dialogue with the breeder to understand what they bought. This should have happened before the chin was sold, but the sooner it happens, the better I believe for both owner and chin. Only once the owner understands the environment the chin came from can they understand what to expect from the chin, start making the chin comfortable in its new environment, and then start slowly changing things so the chin becomes what they want the chin to be. It's a process, and the speed at which change happens depends on the environment the chin came from, the chin's personality, the owner's personality, and other factors -- but it may take a very long time for this chin to become what this owner wants it to be.
Linda
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