A British soldier’s pet Rottweiler has given birth to a whopping 16 pups as the country’s largest litter ever.
The 32-year-old infantryman, Mark Marshall, was expecting his pet to be pregnant with six puppies so it wasn’t less than a treat for him when he got an additional ten pooches.
Marshall welcomed the UK’s largest litter ever at his four-bedroom house on an army barracks, shared by his wife Laura and the couple’s five children.
There is so much work with the new pups that the couple had to join hands with mother Roxy. They do so by feeding a special milk to some of the pooches.
The pups are now eight weeks of age, suitable to move in with new owners around the UK.
Marshall, from Preston, will keep little Bella with himself.
“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,” said Marshall, a corporal with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment at Weeton Barracks, near Blackpool.
“I was so shocked at how many we ended up with,” he added.
“Obviously we hadn’t prepared ourselves for that but in the end, it’s been a nice surprise. It’s definitely been a lot to handle and it has been really tiring.
“I was feeding them in groups of eight for eight days straight and going to work in between.”
When Roxy went in the labor on March 12, the Marshalls had no idea of what was happening to their pet friend.
“We heard a noise downstairs so went down to check and Roxy was hiding behind the sofa,” Marshall said. “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 12pm 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.”
The pooches are older than the couple’s youngest child Arlo, who was welcomed by them just a month ago. Other children in the family are Jaxson, nine months, Amelia, two, Kelsey, seven, and Tyler, 12.
The puppies, who will soon move in with their new owners around the country, have been sold.
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