Shropshire Star

Puppy love: Litter of 15 rottweilers takes a bow-wow at Telford home - with video

They might not quite have hit a new British record – but these 15 new puppies are still a handful for their Telford owner.

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Thankfully new mother Jessie and all the rottweiler puppies are doing well, although owner Eleanor Usher is still feeling a bit of shock.

Expecting around five pups, the 47-year-old mental health nurse, from The Humbers, watched on while the number continued to rise.

Rapidly approaching the record of 18, eventually Jessie managed to beat the second highest of 13.

"When we got to 11 we started to realise something was out of the ordinary," Eleanor said.

"It's the first time I've ever bred a litter of puppies, it was only a one off. By the time she'd gotten to six I told her what a good girl she was and that she was due a break.

"We thought oh my God, when is she going to stop?"

Owner Eleanor Usher with the puppies

In the time since, Jessie has taken to motherhood like a dog to a bone.

"She is doing absolutely brilliantly," Eleanor said. "She's eating loads, but that's to be expected.

"She's quite a slim dog, but with 15 puppies she was huge. She looked like a barrel, but even then we weren't expecting that many at all.

"She is so settled with them. I had one on my lap the other day, she came over, picked it up and carried it away. She's doing it all herself."

The whole litter are healthy – although there was some worry over number 15.

"We thought we might lose one or two but they're all thriving," Eleanor said.

"Number 15 was very small, we thought she'd died. Her tongue was white instead of the normal pink. We rubbed her and she was fine though."

When they're old enough, the puppies will be sold on to their forever homes.

Eleanor said: "We had five lined up already, but we never expected to have three times as many!"