BREE'S LITTLE TREASURE 'WE'VE FOUND OUR PAWFECT MATCH!'

Bree Tomasel and partner Sophia tell how their adorable new rescue puppy has made their family feel whole

- Florence Hartigan

Treasure Island: Fans V Faves host Bree Tomasel isn’t the only celebrity in her family. The 34-year-old broadcaster and her partner Sophia Gould have another famous name under their roof-Whitney Houston, a gorgeous Cairn terrier who shares her birthday with the late singer! And now the self-described "dog mums" are thrilled to have added a new star fur baby to the family - a rescue puppy named Meryl Streep, who, fittingly, came to them via the TVNZ 2 reality show The Dog House NZ.

Bree and Sophia, who adopted Whitney together in 2020, started thinking about finding their pooch a canine sibling after a few months of minding a friend's pup at their Auckland home last year.

"It felt like the family was whole when he was here," says Bree. "I said to Sophia, 'You know, growing up we always adopted dogs and it's the most amazing feeling in the world.

We should look at rescuing one! "Then I ran into someone I'd worked with on a previous show, who mentioned he was working on The Dog House. I was like, 'Are you joking? That's me and my partner's favourite show and we're looking at adopting a dog!"

Though Sophia and Bree left the show – where experts match prospective owners with their perfect rescue dogs – without a new four-legged family member, they didn’t give up. The couple took another off-camera visit to Country Retreat Animal Sanctuary, where The Dog House is filmed, and the team introduced them to Meryl. It was love at first sight.