A dog lover who rescued a young XL Bully from poor conditions now has nine of them after it gave birth to a surprise litter of adorable pups.

But it has created a huge practical and financial headache for the Canterbury woman and her family.

Although she managed to get special exemption certificates for the now-banned breed in the nick of time, under new legislation she cannot legally sell them or even give them away.

The 43-year-old mum, who asked not to be named in our report, now has no choice but to keep the dogs or put them down – which she says would “break our hearts”.

Despite the ban on owning XL Bullies being announced by the government on October 31, the family rescued Brandy in November as they “just wanted to give her a better life”.

However, at the time they had “no idea” she was soon due to give birth.

“When she kept getting fatter despite watching her diet, we took her to a vet, who told us she was pregnant,” the owner said.

“It was a huge shock and we probably wouldn’t have taken her in had we known.”

Seven weeks ago, Brandy gave birth to a litter of 10 pups, of which eight survived.

“We helped deliver them all ourselves and they are adorable,” the owner said.

“But now we are at a complete loss about what to do because we could never have them put down.”

The puppies are growing fast and becoming more boisterous and demanding by the day.

“They are little balls of energy and fun and, like their, mum, just very friendly and loveable,” said their owner.

“We believe the problem around XL Bullies is not the dogs, but their owners – they are the ones who should be vetted to see if they are suitably responsible.”

It’s also been quite the upheaval for the family’s “lovely” seven-year-old Labrador, called Honey, who has gone from being the only pet to one of 10 dogs in the house.

The owner says she has no worries about the Bullies being branded dangerous dogs, adding: “Brandy is even nicer [than Honey] and we trust her completely with our children.”

The litter is presenting a huge financial challenge for the family because of the growing cost of keeping them, including feeding and vets bills.

“It is a real worry but I am hoping because of our special circumstances, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [Defra], which administers the exemption scheme, will give us some dispensation,” the owner said.

"We know people who would like one so we hope we can give them away or even sell them to help recoup some of our costs."

Wednesday was the last chance to register an XL Bully for an exemption allowing people to keep their pets.

The family had to find almost £900 at short notice to pay for the certificates for the mum and pups.

Now they are hoping dog lovers will help them with the cost and ongoing bills through a gofundme page.

“To be honest, it has become a big financial headache for us which we weren’t expecting, so we’d appreciate any support while we figure out what we are going to do with them,” the owner said.

“But we can’t have them put down because that would break our hearts.”

Defra says the decision to ban XL Bully dogs was made following concerns about attacks by dangerous dogs, with 23 people killed and the breed involved in many of the incidents.

New restrictions covering the breed came into force on December 31, making it a legal requirement for owners to have an exemption certificate for their dogs, or have them put down.

Now, all XL Bullies have to be kept on a lead and muzzled when in public. It is also illegal to sell, advertise, gift, exchange, abandon or let the dogs stray.

Those owning an unregistered dog are now committing a criminal offence and face a criminal record and an unlimited fine.

Owners who do not want to keep their dogs should take them to a vet to have them put down, Defra says.