Adorable Photos of Boy and Puppy Napping Together Will Warm Your Heart

Photography Tips

It was two Christmases ago that Jessica Shyba‘s two older children asked Santa for a puppy. And it was only last November, nearly a year after her kids’ first request, that she and her husband actually found one: a seven-week-old Boxer-shepherd-labrador retriever hybrid named Theo. The puppy instantly began to cling to Jessica’s youngest, Beau, the only way babes know how—cuddling up during nap time. This album shows what we mean:

You can read original story here, but it’s the aftermath that’s kind of ridiculous. Shyba’s Instagram account leapt from 65,000 followers to nearly 400,000. She signed a children’s book deal to pen Bedtime for Theo and Beau next winter. There’s even a short film by photographer Anna Mayer coming soon with no discernible plot—just video footage of these two cute creatures being cute together.

And to think, it all started with just a few shots Shyba snapped on her smartphone and uploaded to Instagram. Perhaps the real lesson here isn’t that man and beast can live in adorable spooning harmony: it’s that organic social media marketing can still rally people together, launch entrepreneurs, and create stars out of everyday lives.