Having a lot of children is the dream of some people. And while humans tend to have a single baby when giving birth, animals can have many more. This is a common trait of dogs as pregnant mothers can have anywhere from three to eight puppies, or more, depending on the size and breed of dog.
Case in point, a Rottweiler mom in the UK had 16 puppies, making it one of the biggest litters of puppies ever,
Only Expecting 6 Puppies
Originally, according to dog owner infantryman Mark Marshall, his Rottweiler was only thought to be expecting 6a litter of six pups at most. The scan Marshall and his wife, Laura, had done seemed to confirm this. And while scans can be pretty accurate, they aren’t always correct, In fact, this one was way off the mark. As Marshall explained in more detail:
“The scan showed six puppies and I thought ‘great, I’m happy with that’. So we had six in our head the whole time, the scans are usually pretty accurate apparently. But no – there was another ten hiding somewhere! I was so shocked at how many we ended up with. Obviously we hadn’t prepared ourselves for that but in the end; it’s been a nice surprise.”
A Big Surprise
It was in the early hours of the morning on March 12 that their dog Roxy went into labor. Being new to the process, neither husband nor wife knew what was going on, so though nothing of it when Roxy started to cry. According to Marshall, the first sign that something was up was when the couple saw a newborn pup in the kitchen.
16 Puppies Later
But Roxy didn’t stop at just six puppies. Before Marshall and his wife knew it, they had 16 puppies on their hands. The infantryman went into more detail about what happened:
“We heard a noise downstairs so went down to check and Roxy was hiding behind the sofa. We got her back into bed then went back upstairs. She kept on crying so we went to check again and saw a puppy lying on the floor. Then we saw one in the kitchen. She delivered another four within the next half hour and by 12 pm she had delivered 13. I went out to get a few things for them and got a call to say another three had come along. I couldn’t believe it.”
Keeping One for Himself and the Family
The proud dog owner decided to keep one puppy, named Bella, for him and his family.
The Rest of the Puppies
Marshall has already found the rest of the puppies homes, bought by new owners. And while this is not the largest litter of puppies born in the world, the birth of the 16 puppies are actually tied with another Rottweiler in Telford, Shropshire for the most ever born to one Rottweiler in the UK at the same time.
Other Large Dog Litters
In addition to Marshall’s dog, other dogs around the world have had astounding litter sizes. Molly, a Dalmatian in Australia, had a whopping 18 puppies. Poppy, an Irish setter living in Galashiels, Scottish Borders, gave her owner a nice Mother’s Day gift in the form of 15 puppies in 2017. But taking the cake is a Neapolitan Mastiff from the U.K. which had an amazing 24 puppies.
Check Out These Cute Puppies
Marshall used his military training in feeding the pups, using a 40-minute feeding schedule with only eight of the puppies feeding at a time. They even gave the proud mother a one hour break for her efforts. For more on this story, check out the video below.
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Source: Patryn World Latest News
