Top dogs — and their names
When Genevieve O’Halloran and her husband Jonathon Earl were living in London they often joked about getting a dog and calling him Brendon McCullum.
After they watched the star cricketer score a century for the Black Caps it became a reality.
“We’d come back to New Zealand and we were watching a game from early 2010, we’d just bought the dog and we were still debating what to call it.
“In that game Brendon McCullum got 116 not out in a T20 game in Christchurch.
“That kind of sealed the deal, so Brendon McCullum he is,” O’Halloran said.
Last year she ran into the real McCullum and, yes, she told him about her dog.
“Normally under no circumstances would I ever approach someone and get a photo because that’s really lame, but I thought under these circumstances I had to.
“I said, ‘I’m sorry you probably get this all the time to pose for photos,’ and he said, ‘Oh no, it’s fine.’
“I replied, ‘It’s just that my dog’s name is Brendon McCullum,’ and he said, ‘Well actually, I don’t get that all the time,’ and we had a quick chat.”
After a quick photo McCullum — the man — asked if McCullum — the dog — was well-behaved.
O’Halloran told the Black Cap legend that he was well behaved but wouldn’t make a good cricketer.
“He’s not very good at retrieving, he’ll chase balls but not bring them back.”