Pup Quiz: is an “Irish doodle” A) the drawings of a Dublin kid daydreaming in class, B) a nickname for the erratic walking pattern of someone who’s imbibed too many Irish coffees, or C) the name of the next Dropkick Murphys album? The correct answer is… D) the flufftacular mix of an Irish setter and a poodle! Irish doodles are a relatively recent crossbreed, so new they’re not officially recognized yet by the American Kennel Club. While Irish doodles originated in the US, their numbers are rapidly expanding in the UK — by 17 from one litter alone! Irish setter Marigold had a helluva labor on January 2 in Kent, England when she popped out a record 17 pups over 13 hours. Thankfully, mum Marigold and her entire brood survived and thrived… and posed for pictures.

After mating with a miniature black poodle a few months earlier, a dog named Marigold gave birth to her first puppy around 11 a.m. on Jan. 2. But according to her owner, Miranda Pellecchia, the puppies “just kept coming” until she and the dog were left with an astonishing total of 17 puppies following 13 hours of labor.

“We knew she was going to have a big litter, but we were amazed when they just kept coming,” Pellecchia, 42, told The Times. “Just when we thought it was all over, out would pop another one.”

“It’s been exhausting for Marigold, and she’s been having 12 tins of dog food a day to keep up her energy and supply the milk needed,” she continued. “What with the feeding, because they needed extra formula milk, weighing, and general care and attention, I’ve not been getting much sleep.”

Joking that she “thought it would never stop,” Pellecchia, who works as a mediator in special educational needs and lives near Canterbury, went on to tell the BBC that the last puppy wasn’t born until around midnight.

“Even when the 17th was born, we wondered if that really would be the last,” she said. “It was exhausting for us, so I dread to think how poor Marigold felt.”

But following Marigold’s 13-hour labor, Pellecchia said that the dog has “recovered well from her ordeal.” Initially, the dog “wouldn’t go to sleep properly for days” after the birth because she was “too busy tending to the newborns.”

“I’d stay up with her too, making sure all was okay. And it was, with even the runt of the litter thriving,” she added. “I reckon things are just set to return to the level of chaos we normally have around here.”

Prior to Marigold’s litter, the largest documented Irish doodle litter involved 16 puppies born to a dog named Amelia in Hampshire in 2019, per The Times.

As for what Pellecchia plans to do with her record-breaking brood of puppies once they are old enough to be separated from Marigold? She told The Times that she would be offering them for sale at £1,300 (around $1,500), and already received plenty of interest in the adorable pups.

“Obviously, we’re going to miss them because they’re adorable,” she emphasized. “But I’m also looking forward to getting my life back because it’s been enormously demanding.”

[From People]

Look at all those babies!! I want them all! Actually, I’m fairly certain I can only handle one dog at a time, and right now that dog is My Guy. Plus I’m an avowed adopt-don’t-shopper. But there’s no denying how adorable all those puppies are! Although not surprising given Marigold is a stunner herself. I love the photo they snapped of her just standing in place while the kids have a feeding; you can catch the slightest whiff of exhaustion in Marigold’s eyes. Or maybe it’s not a slight whiff but outright fury with the subtext “Get that camera OUT of my face!” A dog’s face can be an enigma, they make for great camera models that way.

Sigh, this story has me all nostalgic for My Guy’s predecessor, My Girl. She never had puppies — she was a rescue and spayed shortly after I adopted her. Still, strangers would routinely stop us on the street to ask if she was pregnant, thanks to her potbelly. I miss her more than I can say.

Photos credit: Miranda Pellecchia/Cover Images, Barry Goodwin/Cover Images