And they call it pony love! Not content with three children, eight Newfoundland dogs, a cat and a rabbit - one family has now welcomed a new addition.

Emma and Mark Bone, of Hexham, stars of Channel 4's Big Dog Britain and YouTube channel Living with BIG Dogs, have now become the proud owners of a four and a half month old miniature Shetland foal – to add to their brood.

And the new addition, named Sutton, made an instant connection with one member of the tribe - their five-year-old Newfoundland Dom, with the pair now 'the best of friends'.

Emma said: "He is a much anticipated pony for our family. I have always wanted a pet pony but we were a little nervous as we have never had a horse or pony of any kind before, only pony sized dogs!

"It was late evening when Sutton arrived and dark so he was put straight into his stable which is on the property.

"I went out to check on him a couple of times and Dom wanted to come with me on my final run – he usually comes with me to tend to the chickens at night – so he stood at the gate waiting patiently.

"I took him to the door of Sutton’s stable and let them meet through the bars and they showed a lot of interest. Dom was licking at Sutton’s nose - he jumped back a couple of times but curiosity kept him going back to greet his new friend.

"We kept it brief as we didn’t want to make Sutton feel uncomfortable, he had already travelled and been put in an unknown environment which can be very stressful to a pony.

"The following morning Dom was super excited at the gate running to me and back to the gate, he wanted to go straight to Sutton! I brought Sutton out of his stable and lead Dom out to meet him, I told Dom to stay back and Sutton walked straight over to Dom without an ounce of fear.

"Dom licked his face and Sutton allowed it, over the next couple of days this behaviour became more normal to Sutton and I couldn’t help but burst out laughing when Sutton started licking Dom's face back while maintaining a confused look on his face as if to say 'why are we doing this?' it was hilarious!"

A week later and Emma claims that they have become best friends and possibly a replacement for her.

"Dom is without fault the sweetest and most loving dog and a real mummy’s boy so he expects to be where I am naturally. Or he did, until he became Sutton’s boy!" she laughed.

"Sutton started to follow Dom around and he chatters to him. Now every time I step outside to go to Sutton, Dom is right there beyond excited, running back and forth to tell me to take him to see his buddy and Sutton has started to whinny when he sees Dom coming."

Emma has loved following the pair's journey together and has created their own Instagram account following their 'bromance' called Big_dog_Small_horse.

Emma said: "We aren’t quite sure if Sutton thinks Dom is a horse or if Sutton thinks he thinks he is a dog or maybe a bit of both but I did capture a quick video of Dom eating grass while Sutton licked two of our other dogs through the fence so maybe there is a little species confusion going on all round haha!

"My horse friends are amazed at the whole story and have told us we landed on our feet with Sutton, it is completely extraordinary."