diff --git a/packages/core/src/lib/connection_manager.ts b/packages/core/src/lib/connection_manager.ts
index 1401a967be..7d8e3d2845 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/lib/connection_manager.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/lib/connection_manager.ts
@@ -314,13 +314,13 @@ export class ConnectionManager
   }
 
   private async attemptDial(peerId: PeerId): Promise<void> {
+    if (!(await this.shouldDialPeer(peerId))) return;
+
     if (this.currentActiveDialCount >= this.options.maxParallelDials) {
       this.pendingPeerDialQueue.push(peerId);
       return;
     }
 
-    if (!(await this.shouldDialPeer(peerId))) return;
-
     this.dialPeer(peerId).catch((err) => {
       log(`Error dialing peer ${peerId.toString()} : ${err}`);
     });
@@ -331,34 +331,7 @@ export class ConnectionManager
       void (async () => {
         const { id: peerId } = evt.detail;
 
-        if (!(await this.isPeerTopicConfigured(peerId))) {
-          const shardInfo = await this.getPeerShardInfo(
-            peerId,
-            this.libp2p.peerStore
-          );
-          log(
-            `Discovered peer ${peerId.toString()} with ShardInfo ${shardInfo} is not part of any of the configured pubsub topics (${
-              this.configuredPubSubTopics
-            }). 
-            Not dialing.`
-          );
-          return;
-        }
-
-        const isBootstrap = (await this.getTagNamesForPeer(peerId)).includes(
-          Tags.BOOTSTRAP
-        );
-
-        this.dispatchEvent(
-          new CustomEvent<PeerId>(
-            isBootstrap
-              ? EPeersByDiscoveryEvents.PEER_DISCOVERY_BOOTSTRAP
-              : EPeersByDiscoveryEvents.PEER_DISCOVERY_PEER_EXCHANGE,
-            {
-              detail: peerId
-            }
-          )
-        );
+        await this.dispatchDiscoveryEvent(peerId);
 
         try {
           await this.attemptDial(peerId);
@@ -420,16 +393,55 @@ export class ConnectionManager
     }
   };
 
+  /**
+   * Checks if the peer should be dialed based on the following conditions:
+   * 1. If the peer is already connected, don't dial
+   * 2. If the peer is not part of any of the configured pubsub topics, don't dial
+   * 3. If the peer is not dialable based on bootstrap status, don't dial
+   * @returns true if the peer should be dialed, false otherwise
+   */
+  private async shouldDialPeer(peerId: PeerId): Promise<boolean> {
+    // if we're already connected to the peer, don't dial
+    const isConnected = this.libp2p.getConnections(peerId).length > 0;
+    if (isConnected) {
+      log(`Already connected to peer ${peerId.toString()}. Not dialing.`);
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    // if the peer is not part of any of the configured pubsub topics, don't dial
+    if (!(await this.isPeerTopicConfigured(peerId))) {
+      const shardInfo = await this.getPeerShardInfo(
+        peerId,
+        this.libp2p.peerStore
+      );
+      log(
+        `Discovered peer ${peerId.toString()} with ShardInfo ${shardInfo} is not part of any of the configured pubsub topics (${
+          this.configuredPubSubTopics
+        }). 
+            Not dialing.`
+      );
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    // if the peer is not dialable based on bootstrap status, don't dial
+    if (!(await this.isPeerDialableBasedOnBootstrapStatus(peerId))) {
+      log(
+        `Peer ${peerId.toString()} is not dialable based on bootstrap status. Not dialing.`
+      );
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    return true;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Checks if the peer is dialable based on the following conditions:
    * 1. If the peer is a bootstrap peer, it is only dialable if the number of current bootstrap connections is less than the max allowed.
    * 2. If the peer is not a bootstrap peer
    */
-  private async shouldDialPeer(peerId: PeerId): Promise<boolean> {
-    const isConnected = this.libp2p.getConnections(peerId).length > 0;
-
-    if (isConnected) return false;
-
+  private async isPeerDialableBasedOnBootstrapStatus(
+    peerId: PeerId
+  ): Promise<boolean> {
     const tagNames = await this.getTagNamesForPeer(peerId);
 
     const isBootstrap = tagNames.some((tagName) => tagName === Tags.BOOTSTRAP);
@@ -449,6 +461,23 @@ export class ConnectionManager
     return false;
   }
 
+  private async dispatchDiscoveryEvent(peerId: PeerId): Promise<void> {
+    const isBootstrap = (await this.getTagNamesForPeer(peerId)).includes(
+      Tags.BOOTSTRAP
+    );
+
+    this.dispatchEvent(
+      new CustomEvent<PeerId>(
+        isBootstrap
+          ? EPeersByDiscoveryEvents.PEER_DISCOVERY_BOOTSTRAP
+          : EPeersByDiscoveryEvents.PEER_DISCOVERY_PEER_EXCHANGE,
+        {
+          detail: peerId
+        }
+      )
+    );
+  }
+
   /**
    * Fetches the tag names for a given peer
    */
diff --git a/packages/tests/tests/sharding/peer_management.spec.ts b/packages/tests/tests/sharding/peer_management.spec.ts
index 36152fe3c7..be4c7a5210 100644
--- a/packages/tests/tests/sharding/peer_management.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/tests/tests/sharding/peer_management.spec.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ describe("Static Sharding: Peer Management", function () {
     let nwaku2: NimGoNode;
     let nwaku3: NimGoNode;
 
-    let attemptDialSpy: SinonSpy;
+    let dialPeerSpy: SinonSpy;
 
     beforeEach(async function () {
       this.timeout(15000);
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ describe("Static Sharding: Peer Management", function () {
     afterEach(async function () {
       this.timeout(15000);
       await tearDownNodes([nwaku1, nwaku2, nwaku3], waku);
-      attemptDialSpy && attemptDialSpy.restore();
+      dialPeerSpy && dialPeerSpy.restore();
     });
 
     it("all px service nodes subscribed to the shard topic should be dialed", async function () {
@@ -80,10 +80,7 @@ describe("Static Sharding: Peer Management", function () {
 
       await waku.start();
 
-      attemptDialSpy = Sinon.spy(
-        (waku as any).connectionManager,
-        "attemptDial"
-      );
+      dialPeerSpy = Sinon.spy((waku as any).connectionManager, "dialPeer");
 
       const pxPeersDiscovered = new Set<PeerId>();
 
@@ -105,7 +102,7 @@ describe("Static Sharding: Peer Management", function () {
 
       await delay(1000);
 
-      expect(attemptDialSpy.callCount).to.equal(3);
+      expect(dialPeerSpy.callCount).to.equal(3);
     });
 
     it("px service nodes not subscribed to the shard should not be dialed", async function () {
@@ -151,10 +148,7 @@ describe("Static Sharding: Peer Management", function () {
         }
       });
 
-      attemptDialSpy = Sinon.spy(
-        (waku as any).connectionManager,
-        "attemptDial"
-      );
+      dialPeerSpy = Sinon.spy((waku as any).connectionManager, "dialPeer");
 
       await waku.start();
 
@@ -177,8 +171,7 @@ describe("Static Sharding: Peer Management", function () {
       });
 
       await delay(1000);
-
-      expect(attemptDialSpy.callCount).to.equal(2);
+      expect(dialPeerSpy.callCount).to.equal(2);
     });
   });
 });