Couple Find Dog With Broken Leg Days Before Their Wedding—Now He's 'Family'

A woman has described how an encounter with a badly injured stray dog days before she was due to be married ended up providing the best wedding gift of all.

When it comes to wedding gifts today, money talks. An online YouGovAmerica poll of 1.2 million U.S. adults in 2018 saw 39 percent say that cash was the best wedding gift, ahead of 33 percent who favored picking an idea from the bride and groom's registry.

It's not clear what Alyssa or her husband Logan, who are from Texas, had planned with their nuptials, but chances are it didn't involve Campbell, the stray dog who would eventually become family one morning in late September of last year.

Alyssa told Newsweek they had just finished up at the gym and were grabbing a coffee when Logan spotted a dog "trying to cross seven or eight lanes of traffic on a very busy street."

"I immediately noticed the dog seemed to be limping or hobbling, and realized he was clearly already injured or had already been hit once," she said. The stricken pup ran from them, but was eventually cornered around the back of a shopping center. "That's when I got down on his level, sat on the concrete and began trying to coax him to come toward me," Alyssa said. "It took several minutes, but he finally limped over to me and collapsed in my lap."

They took the stricken dog to a veterinarian. At this point, their wedding was nine days away. "We were desperately hoping he had a home or family that loved him and was just lost!" she said. But that wasn't the case. "He had no microchip, no collar and was not neutered," Alyssa added.

Undeterred, the couple began posting photos all over social media in the hopes that they might be able to find his former home. "People on the Next Door app notified us that they had seen him running around the intersection and in parking lots two or days before we had found him," Alyssa said. "We assume the most likely possibility is that he was dumped in the busy area where we found him."

At the same time, Campbell was in desperate need of surgery on a broken leg. "This complex fracture was deteriorating his joint structure already and the vet warned us that if this wasn't surgically fixed very soon, the joint would collapse completely," Alyssa said.

Complex and expensive surgery was required, with local nonprofit Cody's Friends Rescue helping cover some of the costs while also setting up a GoFundMe page to help foot a bill of around $8,000. Yet there was never any doubt about proceeding for Alyssa and Logan.

Brought together in part through their love of animals, Alyssa—a content creator who posts about reptiles on social media under the handle @lyssaslizards—said that by then they "knew he was meant to be part of our family."

"We just felt so connected to him within that first week," Alyssa said. "It was as if the perfect dream dog we had always talked about had just fallen into our laps." They booked Campbell in for the surgery and returned their attention to their wedding and the honeymoon that followed, excited at the prospect of returning to take care of their new rescue pup who was looked after by her parents while they were away.

Fast-forward to now and Campbell's leg is fully healed, with the joint now fused together and bolstered by a metal plate. "Campbell can't bend that leg at the joint anymore like normal dogs can," Alyssa said. "However, he has adapted SO well and it doesn't hold him back or hinder him at all! He can run, jump, play, fetch and do all the normal puppy things."

Campbell was already potty-trained and capable of following a number of basic commands when he first moved home, which suggests he once had an owner. However, it's clear to Alyssa that his past experience wasn't an entirely positive one.

"Campbell has also shown some signs of being very frightened of oddly specific things," she said. "If I'm holding a shoe in my hand he immediately cowers in fear. He's also always noticeably cautious and concerned about potentially breaking anything in our home."

Despite this, his sweet, affectionate nature has shone through. "Campbell is truly the most genuine dog soul I've ever met," Alyssa added. "Honestly, the main thing he wants at all times is just to be near Logan and I. He LOVES people! And other dogs too. He's yet to meet a dog he hasn't liked or wanted to be friends with. He's sweet and gentle with kids and babies too, he just wants to love his people at all times."

A food-motivated dog who's known to get excited for his bedtime treat, Campbell's favorite thing to do in the world is play, with games of fetch and tug-o-war notable highlights. Campbell might not have come into their lives at the most opportune time, but Alyssa firmly believes everything happens for a reason.

"Finding Campbell rocked our world, put a dent in all our plans and changed our lives forever but he's also the best thing that has ever happened to us," she said. "We're so grateful he found his way to us."

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.