From nose to tail they look the same – except for the slobber and hair. One is a living, breathing 100kg-plus English mastiff, the other is cast in bronze.

The real-life Hercules Morse ('as big as a horse”), named Lazarus, greeted his bronzed-self with a sniff when Dame Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary character sculptures were unveiled on The Strand yesterday.

Dame Lynley Dodd with English mastiff Lazarus and his bronzed-self, Hercules Morse. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Lazarus is a therapy dog in hospitals and retirement homes, but works mostly with St John. His bronze duplication now lies very still on Tauranga's Waterfront, alongside the rest of the gang from Donaldson's Dairy.

Owner Lloyd Woodroofe and five-year-old Lazarus travelled many times from the Hunua Ranges, Auckland, to Tauranga for the dog to sit and be sculpted by Hairy Maclary and Friends sculptor Brigitte Wuest.

He was coaxed into sitting still with plenty of Tux biscuits and Pedigree nuts. 'A lot of them,” adds Lloyd's daughter Beth Wood, who brought Lazarus to the unveiling, along with Lloyd's granddaughter, eight-year-old Amy Wood.

'He loved it,” says Beth. 'Dad was very proud that Lazarus got to be the statue.”

It wasn't love at first sight for Lazarus and his bronze replica – apparently the large dog whimpered when he saw himself in the crate.

'It looks just like him,” says Beth. 'My children have grown up with Hairy Maclary and they've always said that Lazarus is Hercules Morse, so it's pretty exciting.”

The bronze characters Hairy Maclary, Scarface Claw, Slinky Malinki, Hercules Morse, Muffin McLay, Bottomley Potts, Schnitzel von Krumm, Bitzer Maloney and Zachary Quack are arguably the Bay of Plenty's most famous faces, and they're here to stay.

TECT, which is a foundation partner in the venture, paid the $85,000 required to finish the $800,000 project.

Sculptor Brigitte says it's been an amazing project to be part of.

'It's fantastic to finally see Hairy Maclary and his friends reach their Tauranga Waterfront home,” says Brigitte.

'I can't wait to see the reactions from visitors of all ages, and their animals, to the sculptures. Tauranga has a new public art work they can be very proud of.”

Tauranga children's author Lynley never expected her dreamt-up characters would end up as public sculptures.

'It will be so exciting to see the works finally in place on the waterfront,” she says.

The process began five years ago, with Brigitte and Lynley chatting via Skype on a regular basis to create the bronze animals.

It was TECT that put up the initial $30,000 to get the sculptures off the ground, and they donated another $70,000 in February 2014 to move the project forward.

City Care also donated $100,000, with other major funders including the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and a collective donation from three of the Tauranga Rotary Clubs.