PUPULATION BOOM
Vet said Poppy’d have litter of 8 ... and out popped 15
MUMS are meant to be able to relax on Mother’s Day – but no one appears to have told Poppy the Irish setter.
The two-year-old had an astonishing 15 pups – almost twice as many as the eight owner Lisa Wardle was expecting.
The total is also just one puppy short of the record Irish setter litter of 16 registered with the Kennel Club.
Mrs Wardle, 40, said: ‘Poppy is doing brilliant considering it’s her first litter.
‘The vet told us she would have between eight and ten. I couldn’t believe it when we counted them.
‘I’m happy to report that Poppy and all the newcomers – eight boys and seven girls – are doing well, although, as you can imagine, things are a bit chaotic in the Wardle household right now!’
Mrs Wardle, a care home worker who lives in Galashiels, Selkirkshire, with husband Peter, 50, daughter Abi, 17, and sons Ben, 15, and Jack, seven, intends to keep one and sell the rest.
She added: ‘I’ll be heartbroken when they’re all gone. I thought about keeping them, but I think my husband would kill me. It will be wrench to let them all go, but we’ve don’t really have the space for another dog.’
‘It’s not about the money for me. I just love how good-natured Poppy is and I want other families to have dogs just like her, that’s why I wanted to do this. She’s beautiful.
‘I’ve had a lot of interest in them – from people on Facebook to people just stopping me in the street.’