Love goes through the stomach

The Alsatian who arrived way back in June to live with my landlord's family is an incredibly nervous dog; big, beautiful, but such a feartie! Barks at everything that moves, won't come near me; when I arrive in the middle of the night, she barks from the minute she hears me open the gate at the top of the 78 steps down to my flat, until I've gone in. Sometimes I think she even barks when I go to use the bathroom. Bit of a pain, all that.

We've taken two steps to deal with it. The landlord now leaves the light on in the yard overnight - this hunk of a dog is feart of the dark??? It has worked already, and she's much quieter.

I'm trying to get her to love me, and so invested in some tiny dog biscuits. Every morning when I go to work, I give one each to both dogs (with the longer resident dog getting hers first; one needs to respect pecking orders). It's beginning to work! Previously Miss Alsatian would not go near me; now she comes running up as soon as I step inside the gate. Does not liked to be touched on the head, but I can now touch her on her side a little.

Interestingly, it's also taken about 3 months for the dogs to play together. Complicated thing, this dog psyche.....

NB the option that she spends the night indoors does not exist.