Staffy sets Australian record after giving birth to 22 puppies

We've all heard of the Disney animated classic 101 Dalmatians. Now here's the real thing.

One incredibly tuckered out dog in Australia has given birth to a monster litter of 22 puppies.

Honey the Staffordshire Bull Terrier was only two puppies shy of setting the world record for the largest littler ever.

Better luck next time, sweet girl.

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Her owner Jayden Cousins told 7News he thought the three-year-old dog would yield a maximum of 11 puppies.

But he was clearly wrong.

The West Australian man explained the hilarious way Honey let him know she was ready to be a mother.

"Just as I’ve gone to sleep she’s given me a scratch to the face and I gave her a little nudge telling her I need to sleep, she literally turned and dropped one on me,” the Perth man said.

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"Ten hours in, I predicted about 11 pups because for two hours there was no pup ... and then we went upstairs and there was another pup."

He added: "[At] four in the morning we were still receiving puppies."

Despite Jayden's estimates of 11 newborns in total, Honey decided to double his prediction.

No big deal.

The litter beats the previous Australian record of 19 puppies and fell two short of the world record, a title held by Neapolitan Mastiff Tia in 2004, who apparently has a uterus made of steel.

As for Honey, the mum-of-22 is recovering well, which gives Jayden and her team of veterinarians time to try and figure out who the hell fathered the gargantuan litter.

Oh, Honey, you old dog. Literally.

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Honey's family believes the doggy daddy is either a fellow Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Boston or a Rottweiler named Buzz.

Or both.

"The vets identified to us that you can have multiple litters within the one pregnancy," Jayden explained to 7News.

Either way, it's now Jayden's responsibility to take care of the new mum and her massive family.

As is typical with a large litter of pups, not all survived.

But that doesn't mean Jayden isn't working like a dog to ensure the rest make it to adulthood.

"When Honey became pregnant it became part of my mission to know as much as I could," he told 7News.

He hopes the wee whelps will follow in their mum's paw prints and grow up to become helpful and loving service dogs.

Oh, and a reminder about 101 Dalmatians: they only had a litter of 18 puppies.

They adopted the rest. So well done Honey; the goodest of girls Down Under.

Topics: Animals, Weird, News, Australia

Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang is a Digital Journalist at LADbible. During her career, she has interviewed Aussie PM Malcolm Turnbull in the lead up to the 2016 federal election, ran an editorial campaign on the war in Yemen, and reported on homelessness in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in Windsor. She also once wrote a yarn on the cheese and wine version of Fyre Festival.

@rlangjournalist