Becky had no idea that Piper, one of the Great Danes at her kennels, was about to give birth to the largest litter of puppies in the establishment's history...
In fact, the dog gave birth to an incredible 19 puppies!
A surprising delivery
Veterinarian Dr Melanie Murphy was called in to assist with the birth. She had to perform a caesarean section to deliver Piper's 19 puppies. Every time the vet and her team thought there were no more puppies... another one would appear! The staff eventually lost count of the puppies during the delivery.
Piper is doing well, and so are her little ones. The brave dog has her own dedicated room where she can rest with her puppies. While the vet helped to feed the puppies the day after they were born, Piper is now feeding all of them herself.
A record-breaking mum
While Piper's litter is a record for the kennels, it's not a world record for the Great Dane breed. That is held by a dog who gave birth to 24 puppies! On average, female Great Danes give birth to 10 or 12 puppies.
Becky has been breeding Great Danes since 2005, and Piper's litter brought the total number of puppies born at her kennels to 101. Becky mentioned that Piper was spayed after the birth. We wish this big family of dogs all the very best!
