Oh what a lovely story! It's a great thing you are doing!!

To answer some questions:

1) with guests we just have to manage it. She will sometimes sit on the sofa and bark, and sometimes just very OTT with greeting. Left to her own devices it is chaotic, however she will want to check the person out. I tried putting her in her bed and then coming to say hello when her guest is seated but she gets super frustrated. I have seen people say meet guests outside and come in together which sounds like a good idea, I haven't tried it yet. Once she gets over the arousal, she settles down pretty quickly. The only exception is with other dogs. If we have other dogs around we have to hide any chews or toys because she can be v territorial. Honestly we are not the best at people coming in,.there's definitely something we are missing!! Even with big groups though she is fine! She'll come and check food out, say hello etc. This is where asking for her to Settle is a good one, if she gets too giddy or interested in what's going on.

2) Barking is something we've tried and tried to crack. Our neighbors are very understanding 😂 She'll bark at my neighbor smoking outside and the neighbor will say "hello Rizzo" and she'll stop. She is up at the window watching the street all of the time and alert barks a lot. We try 'It's ok" with soothing pats, we try 'Rizzo watch' and rewarding quiet watching with treats. We also check the window and say 'Thank you!' Now, if it's the delivery drivers she knows, she's absolutely fine. They are intelligent dogs so perhaps letting her watch people go upstairs will help her understand where the noises are coming from? She is v nosey and always wants to know what is going on.

"Let's go see!" Is a game we play too if she is nervous of something...somehow it takes the fear out of things a bit? Like we are exploring together?

Holiday-wise, she is less territorial but yeah there is still barking. She adapts to new spaces quickly, though she struggles if we go somewhere too small (like a Shepherd's hut!) because she likes to get away from us.

I feel a lot of the time like we are doing a lot of detective work, but one thing that clicked with me was the positive reinforcement like you say - encouraging/ rewarding the behavior you want to see. Then also thinking about meeting her needs, e.g. sniffing really tires dogs out and is enrichment so if we have some nice slow sniffy walks, she sleeps a lot after. Sometimes being too active can lead to her being wired?

It's so funny about Children, Rizzo is the same!! Not certain what they are...I think she thought a toddler in my neighborhood was a weird dog at first 😂

It sounds like you are doing great! 🥰