diff --git a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsubpeer.nim b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsubpeer.nim
index ac1c2f1bc..7c084bc22 100644
--- a/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsubpeer.nim
+++ b/libp2p/protocols/pubsub/pubsubpeer.nim
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ type
     recvdRpcCache: TimedCache[string]   # cache for already received messages
     observers*: ref seq[PubSubObserver] # ref as in smart_ptr
     subscribed*: bool                   # are we subscribed to this peer
+    dialLock: AsyncLock
 
   RPCHandler* = proc(peer: PubSubPeer, msg: seq[RPCMsg]): Future[void] {.gcsafe.}
 
@@ -141,31 +142,36 @@ proc getSendConn(p: PubSubPeer): Future[Connection] {.async.} =
       # Careful, p.sendConn might change after here!
       await current.close() # TODO this might be unnecessary
 
-  # Grab a new send connection
-  let newConn = await p.switch.dial(p.peerId, p.codec) # ...and here
-  if newConn == nil:
-    return p.sendConn # A concurrent attempt perhaps succeeded?
+  try:
+    # Testing has demonstrated that when we perform concurrent meshsub dials
+    # and later close one of them, other implementations such as rust-libp2p
+    # become deaf to our messages (potentially due to the clean-up associated
+    # with closing connections). To prevent this, we use a lock that ensures
+    # that only a single dial will be performed for each peer:
+    await p.dialLock.acquire()
 
-  # Because of the awaits above, a concurrent `getSendConn` call might have
-  # set up a send connection already. We cannot take a lock here because
-  # it might block the reading of data from mplex which will cause its
-  # backpressure handling to stop reading from the socket and thus prevent the
-  # channel negotiation from finishing
-  if p.sendConn != nil and not(p.sendConn.closed or p.sendConn.atEof):
-    let current = p.sendConn
-    # Either the new or the old connection could potentially be closed - it's
-    # slightly easier to sequence the closing of the new connection because the
-    # old one might still be in use.
-    trace "Closing redundant connection",
-      oid = $current.oid, newConn = $newConn.oid
-    await newConn.close()
-    return current
+    # Another concurrent dial may have populated p.sendConn
+    if p.sendConn != nil:
+      let current = p.sendConn
+      if not current.isNil:
+        if not (current.closed() or current.atEof):
+          # The existing send connection looks like it might work - reuse it
+          trace "Reusing existing connection", oid = $current.oid
+          return current
 
-  trace "Caching new send connection", oid = $newConn.oid
-  p.sendConn = newConn
-  asyncCheck p.handle(newConn) # start a read loop on the new connection
+    # Grab a new send connection
+    let newConn = await p.switch.dial(p.peerId, p.codec) # ...and here
+    if newConn.isNil:
+      return nil
 
-  return newConn
+    trace "Caching new send connection", oid = $newConn.oid
+    p.sendConn = newConn
+    asyncCheck p.handle(newConn) # start a read loop on the new connection
+    return newConn
+
+  finally:
+    if p.dialLock.locked:
+      p.dialLock.release()
 
 proc send*(
   p: PubSubPeer,
@@ -207,11 +213,11 @@ proc send*(
     if conn == nil:
       debug "Couldn't get send connection, dropping message"
       return
-    trace "sending encoded msgs to peer"
+    trace "sending encoded msgs to peer", connId = $conn.oid
     await conn.writeLp(encoded).wait(timeout)
 
     p.sentRpcCache.put(digest)
-    trace "sent pubsub message to remote"
+    trace "sent pubsub message to remote", connId = $conn.oid
 
     when defined(libp2p_expensive_metrics):
       for x in mm.messages:
@@ -240,3 +246,4 @@ proc newPubSubPeer*(peerId: PeerID,
   result.peerId = peerId
   result.sentRpcCache = newTimedCache[string](2.minutes)
   result.recvdRpcCache = newTimedCache[string](2.minutes)
+  result.dialLock = newAsyncLock()