Rare Stabyhoun Litter Born In England, Watch The Adorable Video

The Stabyhoun is a beautiful but rare breed of dog — so rare that a recent litter of 10 puppies just doubled the Stabyhound population in the UK.

The 10 puppies were born this week, the first litter ever birthed in the UK. In all there are close to 5,000 of the breed in the world.

The dog’s owner, Janice Vittachi, had lived in Canada but moved to the UK two years ago. She had bought her rare dog in Denmark after finding out about the Stabyhoun online.

Janice actually had to take her dog, Rikje, to Holland to be impregnated. The litter — which contains three females and seven male puppies — will fetch her tens of thousands of dollars in all.

The delivery got a bit tense, Janice said, but everything turned out all right.

“It all went very well although it seemed to take forever,” she told the Daily Mail. “She is doing quite well now.”

The Stabyhound puppies have names that show off their Nordic heritage — Janneke, Kike, Laanke, Mork, Ninke, Ouke, Pylgrim, Rembrandt, Sander, and Tynke. This is the second litter for the 5-year-old dog.

Janice said the post-partum period has been pretty tense for her as she carefully looks over the valuable pups.

“There is not much that I have to do for them but I have spent most of my waking hours counting to 10,” Janice said. ‘Every now and then one will move off but mum does most of the work.”

The puppies have already been sold, and will go to their new owners in November.

The Stabyhoun is a breed native to the Netherlands. It has traditionally been used as a working dog for the common man, hunting, guarding property, and catching rodents. The dog have an average life span of 13 to 14 years.

The Stabyhoun litter will be the last in England, at least for a little while. Strict breeding rules in the country say that another litter can’t be born until 2015.