Merlot’s favourite pastime is to catch waves on Lake Wakatipu, preferably garnished with ducks! His second favourite pastime is sleeping on his back wherever he can find a ray of sunshine to warm his tummy. Sadly his sister Shiraz has gotten a bit quieter since she lost her sight, but can nevertheless count on Merlot assisting her picking up all the food scraps she drops.

Merlot is definitely Shiraz’ best friend - she is very protective of him whenever any other dog pays him any attention, whereas Merlot seems to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet without his sister from time to time.

Playing together, their favourite toys (and they have many) are those that they can have a tug-of- war with and Merlot has a collection and a passion for duck toys that quack and can be thrown up and down the hallway with mum every night after dinner.

They haven’t excelled their naughtiest exploit when, as 9 week old puppies they pulled down the Christmas tree – great teamwork!