PEOPLE AND THEIR PETS + QUIZ

Shoe Clinic store manager Bronson Botha and his miniature schnauzer, Wallace

Bronson Botha + Wallace

We got Wallace a couple of weeks before our wedding, so he’s 2 years old now.

He was only 8 weeks old when we brought him home. I’d say it was love at first sight.

That first night, my wife Stacey and I tried to feed him exactly as the breeder told us to, but he wouldn’t eat and we felt rather guilty because we had Burger Fuel, so we ended up giving him some of that to coax him into eating.

It took him a few nights to get used to eating dog food but now we’ve upgraded his food from regular kibble to a mainly raw food diet. He’s very spoilt. Some weeks he eats better than we do. You know how people get My Food Bag? He gets a Bark Bag delivery. It’s his birthday soon. Last year we made pupcakes but this year we will just do balloons. He will get his usual Bark Bag but I added a few extra toys and treats, of course.

Stacey and I both had dogs growing up, so we decided we wanted one. We had two SPCA kittens but we added Wallace to the family and the rest is history.

He’s a miniature schnauzer. Auckland properties aren’t generous in their size so we tried to find a dog that would fit into our lifestyle and wasn’t underdone in terms of exercise with what he can do in the back yard.

Having a smaller breed that doesn’t bark too much was important too. Because we live on a shared title, we didn’t want to bother the neighbours. Both of our families have little kids so we wanted a dog that could get on with small children too. Now he’s become the big baby in the extended family.

When trying to decide on a name, we realised he was always going to look like an old man so we decided to give him an old man name — Wallace.

Most mornings I take him walking for about an hour and on the weekends we take him to the beach if it’s nice weather. Once a month we go to Paws in Parnell, where he gets to mingle with other spoiled dogs.

Initially he wore a standard collar from a pet shop but then we ordered a collar from Holland that cost $70 or $80. It’s got avocados on it. We decided that we were Jafas so we wanted to give him that kind of Jafa look. You know, millennials and the avocado economy?

We have an Instagram page for him (@wallace minischnauzer) and what started as a hobby has become a bit of an obsession. He’s just too cute and he has more than 2000 followers.

We treat him like royalty. At first we decided we wouldn’t let him sleep in the bed but it didn’t take long for that rule to break and now he sleeps right in the middle, between Stacey and me, with his head on the pillow.

We went to Fiji this year for three or four nights and within half an hour we were talking about him and missing him. I think there would be a big void in our lives if he wasn’t in it.

He has a whole room dedicated to his toys and he goes for a hoon in there every day.

He’s so happy when we arrive home from work but, to be honest, even if we pop down to the dairy and come back within 10 minutes he is equally over the moon.