LITTLE Jasmine Plunkett has a newborn puppy named after her – because she stayed up all night to save its life.

Jasmine, aged 11, from Weymouth, was delighted when her two-year-old St Bernard dog Willow gave birth to 11 puppies.

And when one of the puppies struggled to breathe and wouldn’t feed, she stayed up to care for it.

Her mum Karen said: “Jasmine saved its life. It was struggling to breathe and wouldn’t feed. Jasmine spent the whole night looking after it and I’m extremely proud of her.

“For the first day or so it would only feed from Jasmine – she was the only one who could put the puppy on the mum and who it would take the bottle off.

“So we’ve named it Jasmine. It’s the only one we’ve named, we’re not keeping the others so they’ve just got their Kennel Club names.”

It was Willow’s first litter of puppies and involved a 21-hour labour.

The father, three-year-old Murphy, is a 14-stone St Bernard, while mum Willow weighs 11-12 stone.

Jasmine said: “Eleven puppies is quite a lot for most dogs.

“Willow, who is my dog, gave birth to the first one at 8pm on the Sunday and delivered the last one at 5pm on Monday. My mum felt very sorry for her. We have seven girls and four boys and they are all very cute.”

A spokesman for Castle Veterinary Clinic said St Bernards could be expected to have anything between two and 14 puppies.