Hera Nathan with Bella and her pups. Photo / Supplied
Hera Nathan with Bella and her pups. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland couple received the shock of their life after adopting a dog from a Hastings District Council pound, only for it to have eight puppies weeks later.
Sarah Bryant and Hera Nathan adopted their dog Bella from Nathan's home region of Hawke's Bay just before Christmas.
Unbeknown to them,and the council, the dog was about four weeks pregnant.
"It has been a couple of days since the puppies were born and it's still very much the feeling of shock," Bryant said.
The couple said when Nathan's sister went to go pick up the dog she was told that all it needed was a vaccination.
Hastings District Council said it was not advertised online as being desexed and the person who picked Bella up was not told it only needed a vaccination.
The council's regulatory solutions manager, John Payne, said the person who picked it up was made aware it had not received any extra treatments, including being desexed.
"Generally an adopted dog is treated for fleas, wormed, vaccinated, microchipped, registered and desexed prior to release. Council charges $250, which barely covers the cost," Payne said.
"In this case, the new owner wanted to take the dog immediately for their brother in Auckland."
Payne said it was agreed when the dog was handed over that the new owners could make their own arrangements to have those treatments done and would be reimbursed up to $250.
Bella with her eight pups. Photo / Supplied
After finding out that Bella was not desexed, Bryant and Nathan took her to the vet to be desexed, but had to wait until after Christmas to get an appointment.
"When we finally got her to the vet he said he couldn't do it because she was either pregnant or on heat and that we would had to wait till March to get her desexed," Bryant said.
A visit to the same vet a few weeks later was unable to confirm if the dog was pregnant, so they booked the next available scan to find out.
But Bella gave birth to eight puppies a few days prior to the scan while they were at a holiday home on a weekend away.
The pair said they wanted Hastings District Council to shoulder some of the responsibility of the puppies and "take some accountability for what they had given us".
There are four males and four females, which Bryant and Nathan have named after book characters. Photo / Supplied
The council said it was happy to fund $250 which covers, among other things, the desexing.
"If the owner can't support the pups, they can surrender the mother and pups to council."
Bryant said they don't want to do that as it will result in the puppies being put down.
They said they'd prefer some backing from council to help support the dogs until they can be given to new homes in a couple of months.
The couple have started a Facebook page about Bella and her puppies and hope to be able to find good homes for the puppies when they are ready to be rehomed.
There are four males and four females, which Bryant and Nathan have named after book characters: Romeo, Gatsby, Hamlet, Darcy, Scout, Ruby, Maya and Blume.
"I do have to say they are quite cute and we have sort of been a little bit of the hub of the street with a lot of the neighbour kids interested in them," Bryant said.
"We don't want to see them put down because of what happened, but we do want council to take some action because we only adopted one dog not to have nine a matter of weeks later."
