A dog owner is celebrating after her white pedigree poodle gave birth to eight black puppies.

Retired nurse Carol Marsden, 50, helped deliver the litter at her home near Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The pedigree dog is called Sukanto My Fair Lady.

The father of the puppies, four boys and four girls, is a black pedigree poodle called Alfie, whose full name is Kertellas on Easy Street at Montravia.

Beverly Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today, said: “Black is the dominant gene in poodles so this is not unusual but the exact outcome would depend on the genetic history of the father and the mother.”

Carol has named the male puppies Shadow, Victor, Leo and Duke and the girls Lucy, Belle, Duchess and Tess.