We have acquired a new member to our household. My daughter's last two years of pleading for a dog finally got to us.

She managed to persuade her dad to visit the local RSPCA centre at Patcham where she promptly fell in love with a black mongrel.

We took him for a walk as a try-out and that was that as far as my daughter was concerned. Sam is a little larger than we had planned and, as he is only eight months old, has still has quite a bit of growing to do.

He had been picked up as a stray in July and has been in kennels ever since.

Even though he is a little on the unruly side, he is good-natured.

We already have two cats, Casper and Calypso, and we were a little concerned how they would welcome the new family member but they have held their ground.

Casper is still a little wary of Sam and mostly stays up- stairs but Calypso is more brazen.

The other day she calmly walked up to his dinner dish and helped herself, much to his amazement and disgust.

And for good measure, she also gave him a good swipe across the nose to show him just who the boss is.

Sam certainly has changed our daily routine.

My daughter and I have now joined the ranks of the early morning dog walkers in the park.

We are up at 6am, come rain or shine, for his hour-long walk over the hills.

Thanks to Sam, we have discovered a whole new world of people we weren't aware of.

But it's not quite how I envisaged the early morning "up with the lark" stuff.

It's cold, it's wet and it's still dark and no doubt all the sensible larks are still firmly tucked up in bed.

We have only had Sam for three days now, but we have all warmed to him and seem to be settling down together.