Peggy - you are great at arguing with yourself. Who's winning?
You can get dogs to face their fears and build up confidence. I am dong just that at present with Taylor and the seesaw and it is working well at the moment - we have reached the point of confidently tackling two thirds of the normal height of the big dog's seesaw. There is a chocolate coloured Lab at agility training who dislikes Taylor
and a few other dogs and Taylor has learnt to cope with this dog who has attacked him twice and threatend to attack on several other occasions. But Taylor knows how to avoid a conflict, by keeping distance apart, not crossing paths directly, avoiding eye contact and coming away when called.