Ben, I have to agree with Jess and Joanna - you have to stop coddling her. Do NOT pet her, or give her reassurance when she's fearful - you are telling her that she has a reason to be fearful by trying to re-assure her.

When I work with the service dogs, many times there are fears, simply because these guys are raised on the "farm" (the campus of Canine Assistants). When we take them home for home visits, we're exposing them to a lot of new sights and sounds.

When they act fearful in a new situation, we ignore that behavior and keep moving forward. We don't say "it's ok!". As Jess said - we HAVE to be the leader - if we aren't, they feel that THEY have to be the leader and keep us from harm (fearful situations). They need to understand that we will determine what's a dangerous situation, that we will not ever allow them to be in a dangerous situation.

For example, many of the dogs are fearful of sliding glass doors at a grocery store. I will literally make them sit by the sliding glass doors for 15 minutes to 1/2 an hour only praising when they exhibit a calm demeanor. I'll talk to people coming through the doors and ask that they not speak or touch the dog while they are being fearful.

Similar to Jess, we'll also keep a very light tone in our voice if they are just slightly fearful to something new with a "what was that? that was a silly noise, wasn't it?" and keep going - no more muss and fuss than that, no physical touch from a fearful reaction.

Good luck with her - you're going to have to give her tough love. As Cesar Milan says - only give affection to a calm relaxed mind.

Also Ben, once she's more relaxed around people, and willing to let them approach her, you might also keep some of her favorite treats nearby and hand them to your guests when they come in the house (cut up hot dogs for example are hard to resist) and have them offer them to her when they meet her so that she begins to associate positive interactions with meeting strangers. Or if you're out walking with her if someone wants to pet her and you know she's not behaving fearfully, hand them a treat you might have in a fanny pack and explain you're working with her and ask them if they'll give her that treat.