Matt Heath: There's another Colin keen to be top dog

Lisa Carrington and her Cavoodle Colin. Photo / facebook / VetEnt

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.

3. Colin is one of the best sleepers I know. He snoozes all day on the couch upstairs and then at night horizontally across my bed, taking up an impressive amount of space for a 9kg Schnauzer/ Jack Russell cross.

4. Colin is a foodie. He won't touch his medicated biscuits, but cook anything for yourself he's there in seconds, applying emotional pressure.

5. Colin is popular in my local area. Rob, a nice man I met at Eden Park last week, told me his wife Helen is a fan.

Colin and his pet human Matt Heath. Photo / Matt Heath

Colin came into our lives eight years ago and was named by my two sons after a line from the British sitcom Black Adder, "Dunny-on-the-Wold is half an acre of sodden marshland in the Suffolk Fens with an empty town hall on it. Population: three rather mangy cows, a dachshund named Colin, and a small hen in its late forties."

That puts my Schnack Colin six or so years older than Cavoodle Colin, which begs the question was the other one named after our one? Lisa or Bucky could easily have read one of my many Colin articles, listened to my radio show or seen him on Facebook when he ran off.

I reached out to Lisa Carrington and asked her "where she got her dog's name from?" she responded, "I wanted a dog and was only allowed one if my husband got to name him. He likes human names for dogs, and I guess that's the most unlikely dog name he could come up with."

I was hoping for a different answer so I reached out to her husband, Bucky, who added

"When we decided on a cavoodle, Colin came to mind organically and now he couldn't be anything but a Colin. It's based on the amusement I get when coming across dogs with human names and the funny discussions…. Like 'my husband is called Colin' or 'I dated a Colin once'."

Disappointing. Colin being named after their Colin would have been a real feather in my Colin's hat.

There's more than enough room in our fine country for two cute dogs named Colin. They are both very good boys, but which has the highest profile? My Colin isn't in a TV commercial, he doesn't live with sporting royalty, and he just broke wind beside me on the couch, but he does have some things going for him. There is an article about him in the NZ Herald again today (his 13th), and it's bathtime, so he's bound to get back on the community page again. That should raise his profile a little.