Chesterfield dog owner shocked after springer spaniel gives birth to 14 puppies

Brad Bluff, 27, a heating engineer from Chesterfield, was told that Lola, his two-and-a-half-year-old springer spaniel, was expecting six or seven puppies. But he got more than he bargained for, when Lola welcomed a staggering 14 puppies in total.

Brad said: “I only expected six or seven. I’ve seen eight and I thought surely that’s it, then there were 10 and I thought ‘come on, no more’. But it just kept going and going and going. I couldn’t believe it, I’m still shocked. She started giving birth to them just before 9am and it lasted almost until 6pm – I felt as if I had been to work.”

But the full day of supporting Lola, was not the only challenge Brad faced – as he had to carry Lola and her pups on his shoulders when Chesterfield was hit by the floods. He said: “On the day of the storm hit I took her to my mum’s in the morning and went to work and then I was coming back from work and I couldn’t get home. I fetched her from my mum’s and walked through the water with her, and 14 puppies on my shoulders to get her home safe. The streets were so flooded that I basically had to go swimming with them all on my shoulders.”

Sadly, one of the puppies has passed away, but Brad is planning to keep only one of the 13 remaining pups – and will sell the other ones when they are old enough. He said: “They are amazing, I would love to keep them all, but the last couple of days have been so hectic. I will only keep one so that Lola has company. I want to find them good forever homes where they can be happy.”

All puppies are sprocker spaniels – a mix between a cocker spaniel and a springer spaniel. Anyone who is interested in getting one of the dogs can contact Brad via email [email protected] at or phone at 07776809566.