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WHAT'S that expression about giving a dog a bad name? Well we've just acquired a new four-legged friend and have been racking our brains as to what to call him.

We keep calling him Archie by mistake after our last border collie who died very suddenly at the end of August.

One day we had a fit young dog (he would have been two in November) who was capable of running for miles with us and then one night he collapsed on his usual stroll around the block and never recovered.

We'll probably never know the exact cause of his death as various blood tests and biopsies turned out to be "inconclusive".

But it was a horrible experience as anyone who has ever lost a pet will know, and although we have been through it before, it seemed far worse this time around because of the effect it had on the whole family - especially our nine-year-old daughter Georgia.

I remember going into her room for something one morning and finding tufts of Archie's fur which she had scraped together and placed near his photo on her bedside table along with his collar and tag.

To make matters worse, by some twist of fate our guinea pig pegged it the same day, prompting our son Joe, who is seven, to ask if it was National Dead Pet Day.

But like most sorry tales, some good has come out of it all and to get back to the point, we now have Archie's brother.

His breeder had kept one of his siblings but was now down-sizing so he was free to a good home.

His original name was Minstrel which only Joe approved of but that's probably more to do with my son's sweet-tooth than anything else.

The reason we decided to change the dog's name is because he doesn't actually answer to anyone yet anyway.

My other half wanted to call him Maverick (after the pilot in the film Top Gun) but this one is more of a mouse than a maverick.

He's scared of the kettle, the microwave, the television, the peddle bin, the cupboards, drawers, cars, bikes, any sudden noise or movement.

It would appear he's never been in a house before and his only experience of the outside world before we took him on had been a couple of walks a day around a field in rural Hampshire.

Now Georgia has come up with the name Marley after the canine star of the best-selling book by John Grogan which apparently has been made into a film.

If you've read the story which is a true account about the world's worst-behaved dog, you'll know why I have reason to fear that Marley might turn out to be like his namesake.

Just in case, I've signed him up for a dog socialisation and training course in Poole tonight.

The instructor told us to bring plenty of treats to reward good behaviour and I've already been out and bought a bumper box of his favourite doggy choc drops - and that's just to coax him into the car!

So if you see two people carrying a hairy black and white hound around town this evening, don't worry we're not mad, just barking.

3:00pm Wednesday 8th October 2008

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