Rupp and Izzie are two absolutely adorable Old English Sheepdogs! Their parents are awesome too! Ryan’s co-workers contacted me about gifting him and his wife Hope with a session. Their younger pup, Rupp had been battling cancer. What a sweet idea and what awesome co-workers.
We had a full blast of fall color for our session. two-year-old Rupp (the shaved cutie) was feeling great and quite excited to have his photos taken with his family. Izzie, eight years old, was also excited, but also let Rupp enjoy the spotlight. We are so lucky to be able to have nice weather to schedule quickly. Sweet Rupp passed away over the holidays.
Hope says, “Our little family is so full of fun and happiness and laughter. Our two big fluffy dogs are the biggest clowns you’ll ever meet. They both just love to love on everyone they meet. Ryan can make anyone laugh. He’s so much fun to be around and is unilaterally loved by everyone that meets him. And I am just so lucky; so lucky to call all three of them my family.”
Here is how Hope tells their story of how they all became a family:
Izzie (aka: Big Iz, Baby Belle) came to me when I was just 17 years old. Our family had been looking to add a puppy and we saw a classified ad for a fuzzy little 4 month old. She had been living outside tied to a tree with little social interaction. She was scared of EVERYTHING. It took her a good year of being carried up and down stairs before she realized the stairs were not going to eat her.
Rupp Arena (aka: Ruppy, Boogie, Ruppers) was surrendered to Charlotte Humane Society with his mom and 7 of his litter mates at just 4 weeks old. I saw through Facebook that there was an entire litter that would soon be available and started compulsively checking their website waiting for him to be listed as available. When he was finally listed we knew we would have to be there waiting when they opened to adopt him. We immediately left Raleigh and spent the night in a hotel and Charlotte. When the Humane Society opened we were told Rupp was in surgery being neutered and wouldn’t be available until 3 pm. It was 8 am and we had already checked out of our hotel. So we visited every Petsmart with in a 20-mile radius and spent the better part of the day waiting in the parking lot with Izzie. When he was finally ready they put a tiny, groggy, 8-week-old Rupp in my husband’s arms and from there we were completely smitten!
