A colleague of mine's bitch has just had a litter of 14 from a medium sized breed. Mine have never had over 9, so I found it amazing and quite a fete.  I guess it would not be a record as we hear of these larger litters every now and then, but it has left me wondering has anyone else had a surprised large litter and how many little ones were in it? And did the mum cope well?

I knew a dalmatian litter of 17, all of which were successfully reared (with help from owner ofcourse!). :)

my weim was one of 12. her mummy has since had another 12! not huge i know but enough!!

My girl came from a litter of 13, it was like a mad house when I went to see them :-)  I think it is relatively common for Dobes to have big litters though.

Karen

my girl  successfully had 13 and they are all beautiful lively pups .. she has done a wonderful job of looking after them herself. we have seperated the pups now into boys and girls as its easier to look after them safely ..... 13 puppies around your feet is a recipe for disaster and its easier to monitor that all the pups are getting equal amount of food and milk. hope your friends girl copes as  well with her puppies as my girl has

my schnauzer had 11-but 3 were stillborn- she reared 8  and came from one of 12 and her mums previous litter was 16!

Tyson was from a litter of 12. :-)

Guiness was from a litter of 12 but only 9 survived. :( Is it usual to loose pups when the litter is big? I wouldnt know as i dont breed.Its seems a little sad to loose a pup. :(

My friend's bitch had 9 puppies twice - a big litter for a Cavalier! She lost some the first time as it was her and her bitches first litter, but reared all 9 the 2nd time round.

I get the impression you can lose some with any size - my boy was from a litter of 7 but 1 died, and my girl was from a litter of 3 but 1 died. Don't know about my Yankee, must ask sometime! :-)

The first litter i ever had was from a Parson Russell she had 8 (one still born) and they all weighed about half a pound each!!
Becky

I can't help feeling rather envious here. My first litter was 3 and I've just had the scan for the second and she could only see 2. Next time we might go for 1! I don't know what we're doing wrong as my breed usualy has a much larger average litter and we've been preparing for this all year with supplements etc etc. Still only one dog wins crufts so who knows!

In the first litter I bred, there were 15 puppies - a bit of a shock for us all.  We tried to split them into two groups but Tara couldn't cope with that so they were all in the box together.  We fed every pup every 2 hours initially and they all topped up from mum - they were beautiful chunky pups and they all survived.  More than one person just cried when they saw them all, they were quite a sight.  What an experience!  Since then I've had litters of 11, all reared just by mum until weaning.

The average for my breed is 6/7. My eldest girl was one of 11 and she went on to have two litters of 9 and her daughter presented us with a litter of 9 eight weeks ago.

my Tyko weighs 11.5lb & she had a litter of 7 ! which is a lot for a mini dachshund ! the puppies weigh between 4 & 6 oz each . average for breed is 2 to 4 . :)

What are the average size litters for certain breeds? So many breeds have different size litters.Is it true that the smaller the breed the smaller the litter?

That is the way that I look at things, but I am always totally wrong, I've seen a Jack Russell with 8 pups, and other terriers with 3 - 4.  Labs anything from 4-12 it's a funny old game.

I went to visit my colleague's pups yesterday, mum is doing really well with them, they were so gorgeous, just made me all broodie again :-P

I miss having puppies around. I shall go and console myself with some shopping instead I think, before I start looking at stud dogs for my one remaining viable female............ she has just run off and hid behind the sofa. :-D