When her black Labrador went into labor, a woman prepared to welcome eight new pooches into the world. To her surprise, a total of 13 puppies were born, and it’s one of the largest puppy litters ever to be born in the United Kingdom.
Leah Barrett, a dog breeder from Allhallows in Kent, United Kingdom, was with her sister Alice and dad, Nick, when Beau, the family black Labrador, went into labor.
“The vet told us it would take about an hour for each puppy to be born,” 32-year-old Leah explained, per Daily Mail. “We thought there could be up to eight, so roughly calculated an eight-hour labor.”
To everyone’s astonishment, the puppies hardly took as long as 60 minutes each. “Seven were born in just forty minutes, we were all absolutely gobsmacked. They were just flying out,” Leah said.
In absolute amazement, Nick started making phone calls to announce the unusual doggie birth. “He told them, ‘oh my god, there’s nine, now there’s ten,’ and so on until the 13th arrived,” Leah recounted. She said her dad was in such a state of shock that he even forgot what he was there for.
“He was the one supposed to be helping me, but he was just too excited,” she said.
The incredible delivery of 13 puppies didn’t go without a hitch. One of the pups became stuck, and it took over 40 minutes to get her out. Luckily, Leah had done enough research on dog labor and was able to revive the little one.
“We were all panicking, we thought we had lost her. It took about ten to 15 minutes to get her breathing,” she explained. “I used suction equipment to suck all the fluid out of her lungs.”
After the pup’s brush with death, the family gave her the name Hope—one of only two puppies they’re keeping. The Barretts will put the other puppies on sale for 950 pounds (US$1,166) each.
Each of the 13 puppies was named based on their personality, according to Leah. They called the males Stormy, Ziggy, Ninja, Danny Dyer, Neon, Stevie, and Bear. And the females were named Hope, Violet, Penelope, Paloma Faith, Penelope, and Baby Pink.
While astonishing, this litter of 13 black Labs is not the biggest in the country. According to the Daily Mail, the record is held by another black Lab that gave birth to 15 puppies in 2014.
While the experience was exhausting and unnerving, Leah says it’s something that has made a mark on her life. “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,” she explains.
