This tiny trio may each weigh less than a bag of sugar, but they caused a tonne of chaos by being born at the height of Hurricane Gonzalo.

Breeder Philando Hill Jr faced a whirlwind of activity when his boxer Europa became a mom at about 9.15pm on Friday — when the worst of the storm was battering Bermuda.

“We were three days overdue and I was worried about the puppies dying inside of her, so I took her to the vet and she ended up having a caesarean section,” said Mr Hill, the owner of Bermuda Boxers.

“She should have had the puppies right after Fay but a dog naturally won’t have pups if not comfortable, they kind of delay it.

“She was nervous and created her own nest three days before the storm — we found her digging a hole the size of a tub by the trees.

“On the night of the storm we let her out and she’d gone back there.”

Mr Hill, of Flatts, immediately took her to Endsmeet Animal Hospital, where vet Neil Burnie delivered the puppies.

Europa, who is five-and-a-half, had a litter of four pups, two boys and two girls, but sadly one of the males did not survive.

“That was due to her holding the puppies, they should have been born four or five days prior to the storm,” Mr Hill said.

The remaining boy has been named Gonzalo after the storm — and because he has a hurricane-shaped white patch on his head.

“My wife named him after the storm — the circle on his head, that’s eye of the storm,” Mr Hill said. “He’s going to be a big dog. They weigh about a pound now, the biggest one is about 1.7lbs.”

The other two pups have been nicknamed Fay and Hurricane, although these will change on their breeding papers once Mr Hill registers the litter.

“I’m going to change the others but Gonzalo will remain,” he said. “But the eventual owners can change the names from the ones on the papers.

“This litter is going to be one of my prettiest litters. The mother looks identical to the father — she’s red too, although she’s a working dog with a beautiful body and nice coat.”

The stud, Dino, who is two-and-a-half, is “my top show dog”. This was both parents’ second litter and Mr Hill has five adult boxers in total — Dino, Europa, Ebony, Jahro and Pearl. He has been breeding the dogs since 2004 and has welcomed more than 40 puppies in that time.

Mr Hill said mom and puppies were doing well and were all in good health.

“She’s quite a skittish type of dog but she’s doing really well and they’re all very healthy,” he said. “I’m very pleased with the way she is now, she’s been cool.”

As well as looking after the dogs, Mr Hill and his wife Alica had a three-year-old son, also Philandro — the Island’s youngest Gombey — to care for during the storm, as well as three properties to attend to.

He praised Karon Terceira at Noah’s Ark for providing an emergency care package for the pups amid the hurricane.

“I raced up the road during the eye of the storm to get it,” he said. “The package had bottles and milk in case we would have to hand feed. Thank you Karen and Noah’s Ark.

“During the eye this whole area was black, you couldn’t see anything, just people with flashlights and people walking down the streets in their slippers.

“But the dogs were fine during the storm.”

Mr Hill said he had a waiting list for his boxer pups and they would be given new homes once they were old enough to leave their mother.