Inside a downtown Dallas building, amazing canine transformations are taking place.
The dogs posing for the cameras at the HealeyGrisham photography studio are not professional canine actors or models. Instead, they're on loan from Furry Friendzy Animal Rescue & Wildlife Rehabilitation, and they are posing for the cover of a greeting card.
The concept: "What happens in the alley, stays in the alley."
The creative energy behind this shoot is husband-and-wife team Janet Healey and Joe Grisham. They are commercial product photographers by trade.
"We used our talents in making products look good for so long, we thought why couldn't we apply that same effort in helping animals get exposure, get adopted," Healey said.
They launched their greeting card line, "Hooray For the Underdog," two years ago to help raise money for animal rescue groups in North Texas. Those groups often can't do marketing.
They're just so into just taking the animals, getting them fixed up, getting them adopted, they don't have the time or money or to promote themselves." And the reason the shots are so eye-catching, they say, is their compassion for these animals.
"I think love is probably the bottom line," Grisham said. "We put a lot of our heart and soul into them, and we love what we're doing and our goal is to make it look wonderful and do things right and do it great."
The duo have used "models" from a variety of rescue groups, including the North Shore Animal League, Animal Rescue of Texas, SPCA of Texas, Southwest Jack Russell Rescue, Weimaraner Rescue of North Texas and Poodle Rescue of North Texas.
In May, an additional 25 cards will be added to the line.
