http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7815893.stm

I helped whelp a litter of 15 (I think) of Dals in one litter then one of 14 in a second litter for friends.
I then went back every week to clip every single toenail !! Both litters.

Nightmare in this economic climate, lucky to get all this publicity I suppose.

One of my boys sired a litter of 17, the breeder reared 15 of them. No easy task.

Wow 18 pups in 1 litter :)

I know of a Mastiff that had 18 pups last year, sadly though 2 were still-born.

Apparently a Neapolitan  Mastiff broke a world record in 2005, by delivering 24 puppies, (4 died :( ).

wow i would not no what to do with that many lol, 8 is quite enough for me lol

Aren't they wonderful at least they are getting some free advertising.

I thought that the record was 22?

Hopefully they will all have found homes before the new PDE programme comes out :-(

> Hopefully they will all have found homes before the new PDE programme comes out :-(

Yes, especially as it seems like the new PDE will be focusing on Dals :(

Funny thing this, the BBC have reported this litter of 18 dal pups to be a UK record, yet in 2005 they reported on the litter of 24 Neos that were set to break the then current world record of 23 pups.

The BBC can't even remeber the things they have previously posted, or more to the point, never bothered checking out the facts - facts that they have allready published thierselfs!!!!

I suspect that the new PDE programme, broadcast by the BBC will again tell the public about inbreeding & how damaging it is, yet inbreeding to a damaging level decreases fertility and the beeb have just ran this about a 14 strong litter of Dals!!

ETA, the litter of 24 Neos were in the UK.

I feel really sad about this - I think a lot of those pups have been born into an uncertain future in the current climate.

I don't envy the breeder one bit.

Me neither. Will she end up giving most of them away I wonder? Hows the dally rescue side of things these days?

As busy as ever. :-(

So sad. I am going to have a dally next time - going to go through the rescue though rather than buy a puppy.
What do dally breeders feel about this litter? I'd imagine they are none too pleased!

What on earth was in the water for that Mastiff!!!

This probably sounds like a really dumb question but as a non-breeder I have no knowledge.

Is it possible for a bitch to actually feed all those pups, does she have enough nipples or will the breeder mum have to give a bit of help with bottles?

On the report on tv all the family were doing feeds as she could not supply milk for them all. I guess you make sure all get 1 feed a day from Mum and the rest from a bottle. Really cute pictures but no sleep for that family. I bet all pups would be sold after that coverage, theres some link to the 101 Dalmations film as well. Either the Mum or her Sire or Dam was in the film.

> On the report on tv all the family were doing feeds as she could not supply milk for them all. I guess you make sure all get 1 feed a day from Mum and the rest from a bottle.

Yes, I think with large litters they set up a rotation system so all get fed from mum, what a lot of work!!

> I bet all pups would be sold after that coverage, theres some link to the 101 Dalmations film as well. Either the Mum or her Sire or Dam was in the film.

I'd think that they wont have any trouble homing the pups, I would have thought they allready had a lot of contacts and people lining up for one :)  hopefully.

Mind you if I'd looked at the report I would have noticed the bottle feeding :)

So how many pups can a bitch feed on her own without help assuming everyone is healthy, is it one pup per nipple or can she cope with more, how many nipples do they have as I've never actually really counted them?

>is it one pup per nipple or can she cope with more,

The pair of nipples nearest the front legs are usually fairly non-productive (the hindmost 4 nipples are the prolific ones!), but are used in the case of a large litter. A bitch can generally feed as many pups as she has nipples, with maybe another pup as well. More than that's pushing it and will drag her condition down tremendously.

As for the number of nipples - it varies! 8, 9 or 10 is most usual.

Wow that is going to be one busy breeder mum then, and possibly one very tired sore doggy mum, I hope they don't suffer from cracked nipples like us humans can :(

>What do dally breeders feel about this litter? I'd imagine they are none too pleased!

Both parents are normal hearing; the pups will all be KC registered and BAER tested. Although her last litter was in 2007 she could easily have had 2 clear seasons between that and this litter, and nobody can predict litter size, so that's nobody's fault! With the KC's edict that all healthy puppies will be reared, culling the litter down to a more manageable size was out of the question.

Good luck to them - they'll need it. Especially in a few weeks time with all that lot peeing and pooing for the Empire!

Is that what they mean by the Empire Strikes Back!

Fair enough.... it just feels a bit wierd to me to be breeding at the moment, but folk are still breeding horses even though sales have dropped through the floor.
I'd be more worried about having 18 puppies than one foal though lol.

OH says its been reported that the bitch had another little last year of 16.
Ive not seen it so i dont know.
But twice within a year does seem a little stange to me.

Yes I had heard the same & thought surely 16 was enough for a bitch, I certainly would not have mated my bitch after her 14 I felt she had done more than enough.

She had a litter of 16 (including 1 stillborn) in October 07. Personally I'd have given her 2 clear seasons, not just one, after such a large litter before mating her again, but she's not my dog, and no rules were broken.

> So how many pups can a bitch feed on her own without help assuming everyone is healthy, is it one pup per nipple or can she cope with more, how many nipples do they have as I've never actually really counted them

The number of nipples is not really relevant it is the amount of milk that is supplied and all getting access to it.

In my breed normal litter size is around 6.

One of my mentors had a bitch who reared herself to weaning a litter of 13 (14 born) and then had an average litter and then another litter of 14.

She countenanced no interference and even at 3 weeks the pups were not keen to start on solids.  Of course the bitch was fed copious amounts of top quality food and most importantly was very maternal and quite prepared to spend all her time with the pups, nipping out only for the loo, until they were being weaned and continued to feed them until they left for their new homes, she was very maternal.  In fact when she had one of her litters another bitch had a small litter and she was caught stealing one of the other girls pups and putting it with her own.

think after her 1st litter i would have had her spayed as i feel she has done her bit, but another very large litter just a year later, poor girl.
On saying that hope all goes well for all the babies and the owners, hope she dosn't have any more litters(just my opinion.)

I wish them good luck with their litter, they are clearly loved and well cared for.

However, I will not be breeding again until the economic climate has improved, we have a history of huge litters (17 is the biggest) and my girl's extremely welcome tiny litter in September was not sufficient for the homes available but it could so easily have been different with pups here for months.  33 pups from one bitch. Good lord, that is a lot to find homes for. The last thing in the world any breed rescue will want though is to become "popular", there is always an unwelcome fallout.