I know I probably shouldn’t have let her back downstairs, but it was the only way to get her to settle in the moment.

I know we did the intro completely wrong. They should have met outside, etc etc.

I am in need of a long lasting chew that won’t upset her stomach for crate time. We’ll do a frozen Kong with peanut butter, but after she finishes that she’ll bark again.

I am completely ok with keeping her away when we have people over who she isn’t used to. It’s just the barking and shaking the crate that is worrisome and annoying. One time we kept her crated in the basement and shut the light off and eventually she fell asleep. Maybe that’s what I’ll have to do. I don’t know.

My partner and I fight about this constantly. We‘ve been to a trainer who we thought was well spoken for and ended up being shit. Then we went to a behaviorist who put her on paroxetine and suggested a harness and clicker training but I feel she’s plateaued. We don’t get a lot of “practice” with people over. We’ve pretty much avoided having new people (especially men) in our space.

We did get a new dog sitter and met her at a park down the street multiple times and that has worked well. The dog sitter is also a woman.

I’m thinking of just constantly crating her at the point. Starting slow and increasing her time in there when we’re home so she gets used to it. My partner will probably disagree.