American Bulldog named Daisy Mae gave birth to 21 puppies in Illinois. Seventeen of them were born healthy and four died during delivery. When you consider that the size of an average litter is 5 to 6 puppies, then 17 puppies is certainly an unusually large number.

It took more than 20 hours for Daisy Mae to deliver all of the puppies. The father of the puppies is a Bulldog named Groucho who belongs to a friend of the Daisy Mae's family. Daisy's owner, Shari Ballard, said that she will not breed her anymore and that she will retire from breeding after this strenuous delivery. Shari admits that her family's intention was to breed Daisy and sell the puppies. After seeing how many puppies they got, she plans to give some, if not all, of the puppies away for free to anyone willing to take good care of them. After all, when you have 17 puppies, it is hard keeping them all to yourself. 

The puppies are now 6 weeks old and soon will be ready to be placed in good homes.

On a side note, the largest number of puppies ever recorded in a litter was from a Neopolitan Bull Mastiff called Tia, in Manea in Cambridgeshire. Tia gave birth to 24 puppies in 2005 and currently holds the record for most puppies born in a litter and the largest number of surviving puppies! Four of the puppies died after delivery from being too weak but the other twenty were healthy and in great shape.