I was wondering if you could help us with about 5 issues we have at hand. We adopted a Collie in April who we were told was about 2 years old. We are his 4th home and do not know what training he's had or, what his life was before we took him in. All we do know is that the rescue that had him trained him to walk on a leash. He does that well and also knows his sit, down, stay and wait all on leash, which is what we have him trained to do so far. However the 4 items I have listed are driving us crazy. My wife and I both work so he is home alone most days for 7-8 hours. Sometimes we send him to play at doggie daycare when we know we both are working late. He is allowed to be loose in the house and is house broken, We haven't had but maybe a couple of incidents that can be chalked up to us not getting home to let him out fast enough.
1) Barking at everything he sees outside. We have full windows on both sides of our entrance door. When he sees someone walking their dog or any other animal in the yard he goes crazy with the barking. Sometimes we can get his attention and get him to come to us and we give him a treat when he does. Other times he ignores us.
2) Ignoring us when called or trying to get his attention. This seems to be an ongoing problem also.
3) Coming when called...we have trained him on this using treats but without treats or if there is another distraction he ignores us.
4) Bullying other dogs at the dog park. He plays rough at times with other dogs usually that are submissive. Sometimes to the point that the other dogs run from him trying to hide. He likes to chase, tackle and pin them down. His tail is wagging and he doesn't growl or snarl at them but he does bark at them and tries to intimidate them. He has been in doggie daycares and they say he plays fine with the other dogs but the area isn't as open as the park where he can run. This is where solving problem 3 would be a tremendous help.
5) Toys....he doesn't know how to play with any toys...any suggestions?
Thanks
