When a British soldier’s beloved pet Rottweiler Roxy got pregnant, he was expecting her to give birth to just six puppies, so imagine his surprise when she gave birth to 16!

Mark Marshall is a 32 year-old infantrymen who lives in a four bedroom house on army barracks with his wife Laura and their five children. Roxy gave birth to her puppies back in March, and the Marshall family did not see the large brood coming.

“The scan showed six puppies and I thought ‘great, I’m happy with that,” Mark said. “So we had six in our head the whole time, the scans are usually pretty accurate apparently. But no – there was another ten hiding somewhere!”

“I was so shocked at how many we ended up with,” he continued. “Obviously we hadn’t prepared ourselves for that but in the end, it’s been a nice surprise.”

Roxy went into labor early in the morning, and since they had never bred puppies at first, Mark and his wife had no idea what was happening at first.

“We heard a noise downstairs so went down to check and Roxy was hiding behind the sofa,” he said. “We got her back into bed then went back upstairs. She kept on crying so we went to check again and saw a puppy lying on the floor. Then we saw one in the kitchen. She delivered another four within the next half hour and by 12 pm she had delivered 13. I went out to get a few things for them and got a call to say another three had come along. I couldn’t believe it.”

Mark immediately placed the newborn puppies on a military-style feeding regiment that involved 40-minute spells with eight on at a time and a one hour break for Roxy in between. Each of the puppies have since been sold to owners for between $850 and $980, and they are all either in or on their way to their new forever homes.

This tied the 2017 record for Rottweilers being born at 16. Back in 2009, a litter of 18 Rottweilers were born, but one was stillborn and another died two days later.