Photo: Katie Kauss

Jake Owen takes one of his two trusty dogs on the road with him on a regular basis though Merle doesn't do much but sleep the entire time.

"He sleeps 16 hours a day," the country star tells PEOPLE of his 1-year-old English bulldog, Merle, who likes to sprawl out on the plush leather sofa – and stay there.

Merle is reliably low-maintenance. He likes the occasional belly rub, but doesn't need much more than that, which will help when Owen and wife Lacey Owen welcome their first child, a girl, in November.

"Not only do I have a beautiful wife I get to spend my life with, I'm getting a baby too!" Owen told PEOPLE in July. "You know with other people's babies, they'll say, 'Do you want to hold the baby?' And I always am excited to do that, but then you have to give the baby back. Now we get to keep the baby!"

To see fun footage of Jake and Merle on the road click the link to PEOPLE above!

~Vanessa