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Labrador Gives Birth To Litter Of 13 Puppies

Labrador Gives Birth To Litter Of 13 Puppies

Unlucky for some. Not these guys, though.

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

A dog breeder got more than she bargained for when her prized Labrador gave birth to 13 puppies, one of the largest ever litters.

They were expecting Beau - a descendant of a Crufts champion - to give birth to around five or six pups after an ultrasound, but they just kept on coming until they had more than a dozen of the things.

The record for litter size is thought to be 15, set back in 2014, but this is still a remarkable amount of puppies to be born at the same time.

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Leah Barrett delivered each of them along with her sister Alice. Leah's dad Nick was also present, but was ringing up his mates to tell them the ridiculous news.

Leah, 32, from Allhallows in Kent said: "The vet told us it would take about an hour for each puppy to be born.

"We thought there could be up to eight, so roughly calculated an eight hour labour.

"But after seven were born in just forty minutes, we were all absolutely gobsmacked. They were just flying out."

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'Flying out'?

Thanks for that delightful image, Leah.

She continued: "My dad was so shocked he called his friends.

"He told them, 'oh my god, there's nine, now there's ten,' and so on until the 13th arrived.

"He was the one supposed to be helping me, but he was just too excited."

The birth wasn't without complication, mind. One of the dogs got stuck in the birth canal by Beau's placenta, which had come loose.

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Anyway, Leah had done her homework and managed to get the puppy out safely.

She added: "She was there for 40 minutes. By the time we got her out she wasn't breathing or moving.

"We were all panicking, we thought we had lost her.

"It took about 10 to 15 minutes to get her breathing.

"I used suction equipment to suck all the fluid out of her lungs.

"It's a good job I'd done my reading on the subject, or she wouldn't be here now."

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The pups are now seven weeks old and have been given names. They are - deep breath - Stormy, Ziggy, Ninja, Danny Dyer, Neon, Stevie and Bear.

We're not done, there's also Hope, Violet, Penelope, Paloma Faith, Penelope and Baby Pink.

Jeez, try to remember that.

Leah said: "Stormy was the runt of the litter so we gave him a strong name to give him a boost.

"Penelope used to snort a lot so we named her after the film character.

"Another pup used to howl like she was trying to sing, so we called her Paloma Faith."

It's been a slog since the birth. Leah has been up and down throughout the night to make sure all of the pups got fed. She explained: "Beau only has 10 teats for 13 puppies which left three who were just too weak to force their way on.

"That meant I'd get up in the middle of the night to hand feed them. They'd probably have died otherwise.

"My mum has been sleeping in the living room for nearly two months now. She's still worried about them."

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She concluded: "I will never forget it. It was the first and last litter we've ever delivered.

"Beau is our baby, so for her to have babies is so special."

Hey, it'll be worth it in the end, too. They plan to sell most of the puppies for £950 ($1,200) each. That'll see them trouser around £10,000 ($13,000).

They couldn't part with all of them, though. They're keeping Hope and Bear around the house with them.

If that's not some wholesome Sunday afternoon content, I don't know what is.

Featured Image Credit: SWNS

Topics: Dog, uk news, Weird, Animals