Not A Litter Of Puppies...It's A Pack!

A Saint Bernard dog in upstate New York gave birth to 16 live puppies Sunday, tying for the second-largest puppy litter in recorded history.

Two and a half year-old Ariel delivered a litter of 17 full-blooded Saint Bernard puppies during 12 1/2 hours Friday, but one of the puppies died shortly after birth, says her owner and breeder Greg Howard. "She is doing great and all puppies are doing fine."

Greg has only been breeding Saint Bernards since last year and he's never seen anything quite like it. She was so pregnant he says, "Ariel looked like a cow."

Ariel's litter ties the record for the second-largest litter of surviving puppies in recorded history. The latest Guinness Book of World Records notes that 16 Great Danes were born in June 1987 in Little Hall, England. That litter originally totaled 23 but seven puppies died after birth.

The largest litter ever recorded was on June 19, 1944, in Ambler, Pennsylvania, when an American Foxhound gave birth to 23 healthy pups.

Greg says he and his wife Renee, take turns with three-hour shifts to satisfy the new puppies' insatiable appetites. Ariel is recuperating from her laborious birth on a blanket in a blue kiddy pool and the puppies are brought to her for nursing eight at a time.

The scene is "absolutely fantastic," says Renee. "They're noisy and squirming, and I swear to God you can see where they're getting bigger."

All the pups are "feisty and hungry," Greg adds.

This is Ariel's second round of motherhood. Last year her first litter yielded eight puppies.

"She's a great mom and so is the daddy," Greg says, noting that the father of the litter was very interested in the birth of his 10 sons and six daughters.

The puppies will be sold for $600 a piece when they are 8 weeks old, and each will weigh up to 180 pounds once they are fully grown.