THEY may look cute and cuddly at the moment - but when these 15 tiny puppies grow up, they will be able to pull the weight of several men.At just two-weeks-old, these bulldog crosses still need their mum, and looking after them each day is a major job for owner Daniel Garnham.

THEY may look cute and cuddly at the moment - but when these 15 tiny puppies grow up, they will be able to pull the weight of several men.

At just two-weeks-old, these bulldog crosses still need their mum, and looking after them each day is a major job for owner Daniel Garnham.

He also has to resist getting to love them too much - because 13 of them will be going off to new homes in a month.

“I am not naming them because I don't want to get too attached emotionally, which would make it harder when the time comes to sell them,” said Mr Garnham, 34, of Ranelagh Road, Felixstowe.

“I will be keeping two of them - and training them for weight pulling.”

Dog weight pulling is a growing sport with dogs of different types pulling as far as they can a loaded trailer, just like a strongman competition.

Big dogs can pull up to 4,000 lbs and Mr Garnham's dogs may be able to get close to that sort of weight if they prove up to the challenge.

“I travel all over the country with my dogs to various events and there is a lot of interest in the sport. I would love to organise an event in Suffolk, perhaps at the Suffolk showground,” he said.

The dogs should be ready for a pulling event between 18 months and two years of age.

Their mum is an American bulldog cross cane corso called Clio - named after the car she was brought home in when a pup - and dad is an 85lb stud quality bulldog known as Edge, owned by Mr Garnham's partner Stef Horton.

The pups were born by caesarean at Smith Ryder-Davies vets - eight boys and seven girls.

“I told the vet I though there was 15 and they did a fantastic job. We are very pleased and some of the pups have lovely markings,” said Mr Garnham who is unemployed at the moment.

It was Clio's second big litter - she had 14 pups just 18 months ago.

“We give them plenty of exercise and we feed them well - we like them to have a completely natural diet,” he said.

“They eat raw chicken, offal, raw vegetables, Weetabix and oats, mince beef, and oily fish, and we try to keep them off prepared dog foods.

“With careful breeding like this and proper diet, these can be lovely dogs, very strong for the weight pulling, but also with a really good temperament, quite intelligent and not aggressive at all.”

Have your pets had a bigger litter? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk

Back in 2005, two-year-old mastiff Tia gave birth to a litter of 24 puppies. Sadly four of the pups died.

The American Bulldog is a breed of working dog developed for catching livestock and for protecting property. There are generally considered to be two types of American Bulldog, the Johnson type and the Scott type, named after the breeders who were influential in developing them, John D. Johnson and Allen Scott.

In England during the 17th and 18th centuries, bulldogs were used on farms to catch bitches and hold livestock; as butchers' dogs; and as guardians, as well as for other tasks.