Q: I have a neurotic 2-year old female black Lab. She is afraid of everything--dark, windows, moved or new items. My behaviorist diagnosed her with shy/fear aggression and advised me to force her through her fears by socializing her in very busy places. I am afraid she will bite. She does play with other animals after a big aggressive show but I had to stop socializing her with people by age 8 months due to her very aggressive but unpredictable reactions. Sometimes she is friendly. My question is for any advice dealing with her increasing skittishness. You would think we beat her (we don 't) by the way her tail is always between her legs and she hunches over. Increasingly, she makes a very loud growling, gruffing like noise whenever my husband or children leave a room or pass by a door of a room she is in. She does not do it to me.

A: If she was not evaluated by a veterinarian before the behavior specialist got involved, do that now. I would suspect a medical problem with this dog. Dogs have a strong instinct to conceal their pain, and it often comes out first in behavior problems. In Labs, hip dysplasia is epidemic, and that's only one possibility.

Trying to push the dog rapidly out of her fears by saturating her with the things she fears can backfire. I would favor a more gradual approach--and that's once you have resolved any medical issues.

Obedience class can be a good controlled setting for working with a problem dog, if you can control the dog adequately for the class setting. A Halti or Gentle Leader head collar can provide the extra margin of safety to make it feasible to work the dog around other people and dogs. You'll need a trainer to show you how to use it properly.

If you can't safely work the dog in obedience class, she doesn't belong in public until that situation is improved. If you fear that your dog might bite someone, listen to your gut rather than to a behavior specialist who is pushing you to put the dog into situations you don't feel comfortable about. After all, it's your dog, and your financial and legal liability if someone gets hurt.

The situation is your home is puzzling, and especially makes me think the root of this is a medical problem. Though it is rare, some dogs even have brain tumors. There is something wrong here, and I think you're going to have to get at least one other in-person opinion in order to figure it out. God bless.