Guide Dog gives birth to litter of 14

These 14 guide dog puppies are tiny bundles of fluff at just six days old but in weeks to come they will begin training to help blind and partially sighted people.

They are currently keeping their owners wide awake around the clock with bottle feeds every two hours.

Retired couple Tony and Margaret Creed, both 68, from Norton, Stourbridge, have been involved with the Guide Dog for the Blind Association for 18 years and the pair were first introduced to Willow when they began puppy walking her.

Mr Creed said: "Willow is now three and a half years old and she had her first litter in February 2013. She had ten pups the first time round and on now she has given birth to an incredible litter of 14 pups."

Willow was scanned and it was thought she was carrying a litter of eight so the couple were shocked when the eventual outcome.

Mr Creed said: "She had 14 puppies over 12 hours but is doing fine."

In total Willow gave birth to nine girls and five boys and both mother and pups are all happy and healthy.

Willow's pups are all to be named after the letter S, with one puppy being called Star after the couple's favourite paper, the Express & Star.

The couple are being kept busy helping Willow with feeds every two hours and will have their hands full for the next six weeks until the puppies are old enough to leave their mother. They will then go to the Guide Dog's National Breeding Centre in Royal Leamington Spa. From there the puppies are sent to puppy walkers and for the first twelve months of a guide dogs life, they live with their puppy walker who gets them used to every day life.

When the puppies are a year old they go back to Guide Dog's National Breeding Centre for more training and are then matched to a blind person waiting for a guide dog.