ENCINITAS -- The puppies just kept coming, and by the time veterinarians had completed the Caesarian section last week, Maxi's litter numbered 17. Maxi -- a rare, cane corso mastiff -- and her many, many pups were back Wednesday at their Bracero Road home in Encinitas, where owner Jean Paul Lorist showed the fatigue of any new parent.

"I've gotten about six hours sleep in three days," Lorist said.

Day and night, Lorist -- a breeder of the powerful, wrinkly faced dogs -- helps Maxi along. She doesn't have enough nipples for every pup to eat at once, so Lorist positioned eight black pups to eat for an hour, then rotated in the nine gray ones.

An overwhelmed Maxi, who Lorist said is feeding without problems, is not "manipulating" her puppies as she should, so the tiny animals, well, do their business, he said.

Lorist performed the chore with a skilled touch of a paper towel.

"If you don't manipulate and help them pee and poop, they'll die," he said.

Looking over Lorist's shoulder was his wife, Juliette, and their children Alana, 7, and Jean Paul, 5.

If Maxi and her brood of 17 were not enough of a handful, in another room of the family's small home were Coco, another cane corso, and her 12-day-old litter of seven black pups.

Meanwhile the sire, 145-pound Apollo, snoozed in the yard.

Centuries earlier, Apollo's antecedents faced lions and other wild beasts in Roman arenas. The Molossian mastiffs were coveted as fighting and guard dogs.

As the cane corso breed developed, the dogs worked as hunters of wild boar, bear and stag, according to the International Cane Corso Federation.

A litter of 17 is "definitely a big litter" but not a first for the breed, federation President Keith LeToureau said Wednesday.

He said the $2,000 each Lorist is asking for the puppies is about what the rare dogs usually cost. About 3,000 cane corsos live in the United States, LeTourneu said.

At least 27 of them live in Encinitas.

Lorist said he "socialized" his dogs by letting them romp with other canines at Del Mar's north beach.

Some interested buyers already have applied to purchase a puppy. Before Lorist sells one, though, he interviews the buyer and does what he can to make sure the animal is headed to a good home.

His wife nodded in agreement.

"These puppies," Juliette Lorist said, "go to families."

Lorist can be contacted at (760) 519-9014.

Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.