A dog owner has shared moving pictures of his pet who was left heartbroken after losing her puppies at birth.

Xavier Hernandez, 18, and his family rescued Twinkle before discovering she was pregnant, BuzzFeed News reported.

But when the puppies were born last weekend, all three of them were sadly stillborn.

Twinkle, who lives with the family in California, sunk into a depression – which was only relieved when Xavier’s mum bought her three cuddly toys to look after.

Xavier told BuzzFeed: “She didn’t do anything without them and wouldn’t let anyone touch them.”

When Xavier shared the heartbreaking photos on Twitter, over 15,000 users retweeted the images – with many people sharing their devastation.

One user wrote: “How sad for this lovely dog. But how lucky it is that she had such loving caring owners. Just reminds us that some humans can be great.”

Meanwhile, another added: “My dog is pregnant right now and I can’t imagine this happening to her. RIP to her puppies.”