Like many New Zealanders, I believe my dog is the best person in the world, and I love him. Until recently, I also thought he was the most well-known canine named Colin in the country. He gained fame across a dozen Herald articles, hours of breakfast radio chat and an appearance on our community Facebook page when he wandered off collarless after a bath. Admittedly I wrote the columns, did the talking and left the gate open, but that's still pretty good for a small dog who usually stinks like a fish cake in the sun.
However, he's been knocked off the top spot by Olympic kayaking superstar Lisa Carrington's dog Colin, a cute fluffy little cavoodle who stars in a TV commercial for a flea and worm treatment. To quote Lisa in the advert, "I understand how important my health is to my performance. So when it comes to my dog Colin, I always use (said worm and flea treatment)."
Lisa and her husband Bucky's cavoodle is impressively cute, but I have reason to believe my Colin is New Zealand's number one dog named Colin.
1. He wards off harmless neighbourhood cats by keeping watch at my bedroom window. If the big grey pussy from next door walks along our fence, Colin heroically goes crazy, scares the crap out of me, smashes out his dog door and wakes up everyone in the house. If big grey so much as hisses, Colin is back inside whimpering with his tail between his legs, no harm done. What a champ.
2. Colin is very tidy. He doesn't soil the lawn or garden with his leavings. He always does them on the smooth new pavers, right in the middle of the path, centimetres from the front door.