“My name is Joy Stone. I am 25 years old and live in Melissa, Texas, with my husband, Brady, who is a teacher in Frisco, ISD. We have a cat named Gus, a Black Lab named Kairi, and our sweet little Golden mix, Rey!
My husband and I have been talking about and looking for a rescue dog for quite a while so Kairi would have a friend, but we weren’t really having any luck. Carlye and Raleigh Allen are our best friends and have been so excited for us to get another rescue dog, so they kept their eyes open and helped us look.
A few weeks ago, Carlye came across the photos of these puppies on her friend Gracie’s Facebook page. Gracie found the pups abandoned by a railroad track, and lovingly took them in and cared for them. Gracie is constantly caring for animals, her daughter, and her ill father, and is currently pregnant.
God bless her beautiful heart for caring for these puppies while also dealing with all of that! Carlye sent me the photos and I absolutely fell in love with the sweet Golden female puppy.
I immediately asked Carlye to ask Gracie if she would hold her for another week, since I would be in Houston for a wedding the next weekend (May 5) and could come to get her. Gracie agreed!
Carlye ended up going to get Rey for me on Thursday, and she and Raleigh took care of her until I could come to pick her up. I drove 4 hours to Houston for the wedding, and then late on Saturday night after the wedding, I drove 2.5 hours to Lufkin to stay with the Allens and meet my sweet Rey.
I decided to surprise him. I almost told him several times because I was so excited, but Carlye convinced me that it would be so epic to keep it a secret.
On Sunday morning before I left, Carlye half-jokingly threw out an idea. ‘What if we took puppy announcement photos?’ I immediately said ‘let’s do it!’ Carlye and I love being silly and creative together, so we had so much fun throwing this together on a whim.
We went out and bought the cute tin bucket and some bows, and Carlye just so happened to have some balloons and a helium tank in her car (if you knew her as I do, this isn’t surprising at all!). We took sweet little Rey out to a pretty spot on the land where Carlye lives and just spent about 20 minutes taking those photos.
All the while, Carlye’s husband was wrangling Rey and trying to keep her in the bucket while she kept jumping out and running off. I’m so glad we ended up getting such cute shots, and lucky me for having a best friend who is also a photographer!
Later that day, I drove home with Rey sleeping in the seat next to me and kept thinking about how I would surprise Brady. I don’t think I mentioned this earlier… but I didn’t tell my husband anything about this!
When I got home, I ended up calling Brady and asking if he could come out and help me carry stuff in. He was SO surprised and so excited! I got the cutest video of him seeing Rey for the first time.
He was immediately in love, just like I am! We are loving our sweet Rey, and so does Kairi. They are already best buds.
Carlye and I both hope we can use these photos to raise awareness for adopting over buying dogs from breeders. There are so many dogs around the world that have been abandoned or forgotten, and they need homes. Shelters don’t have enough space for so many animals, and it’s our job to save these sweet babies and take care of them!
We really want to encourage everyone to think about this next time they want a pet. Make these sweet animals a part of your family and give them the love they deserve!
Carlye, Gracie, and I are partnering with a local shelter (near Carlye) for a pet photo shoot in June. It will be donation-based, and all proceeds will go toward supplies and whatever is needed for the animals in the shelter.
I work at a wedding venue called Rustic Grace Estate (Van Alstyne, TX) and have a lot of photographer connections, and am also hoping to reach out and encourage an event like that up here in North Dallas.
It’s been so fun seeing people’s reaction to this photo shoot, and we really hope that we can use it to inspire others in this way.”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Joy Stone, of Melissa, TX and Carlye Allen. You can follow Carlye on her Photography page on Facebook. Join the Love What Matters family and subscribe to our newsletter.
Read more stories like this here:
Please SHARE this story on Facebook or Twitter to help others understand the importance of pet adoption.