Pyper is an intact boy dog. Like any other such dog, he likes to pee on things - pretty much anything vertical. We were cautioned that he may do his "boy dog" thing inside the house, but Pyper has behaved himself fine (except for that single little incident mentioned above). However, when Pyper goes outside, he is unstoppable.
He can pee on every tree, every bush, every fence post. During a three-hour walk on the Beaches' boardwalk, he visited every other lamp post, even after he ran out of his supply. His gall even extends to peeing on smaller dogs that may annoy him ... or on the boots of other dog-people who stand around too stationarily on the field. He puts the "p" in Pyper.
Leash-free running around Greenwood Park has been largely successful. He
likes running after this floopy frisbee-like thing that we toss around. He,
once in a while, even brings it back with a big happy collie face. However,
he cannot compete with a labrador "puppy" in the area: the little one runs
faster, fetches reliably, and obeys "sit" / "come" instantly. Maybe Pyper
will learn from this lab gal. (As it turns out, this "puppy" is actually
three years old, and a little unruly.)
Pyper sleeps a lot. During a weekday that followed a vigorous morning exercise, he has slept continuously from 08:00-13:00. He only lifted his head upon a loud noise, and only visited for a head-rub once or twice. It looks like Pyper is a happy camper during the day if someone is merely around.
Pyper is sometimes a little moody. After a long day's sleep, he can become
head-strong and just be a brat during the evening walk. This is not good,
as it is during these evening walks that we have been trying to teach him
obedience tricks. When he's head-strong, he pulls on the leash a lot,
refuses to follow instructions until a yank, basically is in a naughty mood.
Since, on the principle of proper pack relationships, I need to overpower
his resistance, he can become a little grumpy for a while.
In an hour or two he's back to his normal face-licking self.
Brushing is an interesting daily chore. By volume, a collie is made up of 80% outer fur coat, 15% inner fur coat, and 5% flesh. The first 95% has to be brushed out every day to let him look his best. The whole process takes at least fifteen minutes because Pyper does not like being brushed. After a bit of being bossed-around, he submits unhappily. Eventually, a palm-full of white and orange fur may be extracted from the brush. Pyper takes a lot of interest in the lost hair, and if left to his own devices, would ingest them again, to preserve his fur-to-flesh ratio.