Dog gives birth to 21 puppies

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 2:26p.m.

An American Bulldog named Daisy Mae is getting a lot of attention these days after giving birth to nearly two dozen pups.

According to her owners, Shari and Scott Ballard, it took over 20 hours for Daisy Mae to deliver her 21 pups. Four of them died during delivery.

With all those puppies, the new mom needed some help. So the Ballard family pulled together by bottle feeding many of the offspring soon after she delivered them.

Now six weeks later, the Ballards say all the pups are healthy and ready to be adopted.

Shari Ballard said: “We wanted to breed her and have a litter of puppies, but I didn't expect to have this many."

The owners also said that after her recent ordeal, they are going to retire Daidy Mae from breeding.

Mr Ballard said the birth was also harrowing for them “We stayed up all night with her and just every couple of hours one would come out and I kept thinking, well that has to be the end."

But there are signs of trouble in paradise. Mrs Ballard said: "I think by right now she's (Daisy Mae) pretty sick of them."

AP

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