diff --git a/src/maggotuba/data/make_dataset.py b/src/maggotuba/data/make_dataset.py
index 4687ff713c4543e648ec3bd6cc2f45fbee212161..89812360c028ac7f4542890bbb0f0fa1b6d2ad1b 100644
--- a/src/maggotuba/data/make_dataset.py
+++ b/src/maggotuba/data/make_dataset.py
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ def make_dataset(backend, labels_expected=False, trxmat_only=False,
                         # note kwargs['labels'] may be defined, but we dismiss
                         # the input argument, because we need to preserve the
                         # order of the labels (the class indices)
+                        if isinstance(labels, dict):
+                            labels = labels['names']
                         kwargs['labels'] = labels
                         break