They call it puppy love but for Sue Nelson the last seven weeks have been more of a nightmare.

When her two-year-old pedigree standard poodle bitch Gundrun went into labour with her first litter she eagerly anticipated the joys of motherhood. But seven hours later she found herself gazing at a daunting total of 14 healthy, and hungry, young pups.

The litter is the largest ever recorded for a standard poodle, according to the Kennel Club.

Remarkably, all the pups were a healthy weight at birth. And seven weeks later all 14 are doing well, thanks to the efforts of proud mum Gundrun, Sue and her local vet.

But just to add to the confusion, although both parents are jet black, three of the litter emerged pure white. Sue has since discovered the father, also aged four, has a snowy white aunt.

And the youngster's pedigree is not in dispute - their paternal grandfather scooped a first prize at Crufts three weeks after the delivery. Sue's first foray into dog breeding has proved to be a bit of a handful and the exhausted 43-year-old solicitor from Horsted Keynes has even been plagued by dreams about her broods' mucky night time habits.

She said: "Both my dogs come from litters of six or seven and I was told by my vet that first litters tend to be smaller. So when she continued to produce puppy after puppy it was somewhat shocking. We were joking until it got to about 11, that took four-and-a-half hours. I waited a while and then went home to prepare the house for them but when I got back to her there were 14 in total.

The puppies were split into three groups so that they could feed but that means Sue has to get up three times a night to swap them over. After the little sleep she does get when she wakes in the morning she is faced with a two hour clean up operation. But now the end is in sight, for next week the breed will be moving off to their new homes.

Poodle-lovers from around the country have been beating a path to Sue's door since news

of the record breaking delivery got round. It is a moment Sue is looking forward to.

She said: "I have no leisure time at the moment apart from picking up poo. I am even dreaming about it. They fill a rubbish sack every morning. Fortunately I have very understanding bin-men. It is the hardest effort I have ever made, it is like moving house but for seven weeks in a row.

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