— Written by Elianna Tuggy, originally posted in late 2013 –
Elianna and Lazoo are front and center, Dec 2015
For the first four months of his life, our new puppy Lazoo endured things no dog should have to go through. He was rescued by our friends from constant beatings, but they were leaving in a few weeks. They fattened him up and gave him to us, and we brought him home in our car. For the first day he found a spot in the corner and refused to be moved, with his tail mostly tucked down between his legs. We spent the whole day petting and brushing him and I managed, after about 10 minutes of laying down next to him and gently scratching behind his ear, to get him to fall into a much-needed sleep.
We had our puppy to ourselves for the weekend. By giving him 80% of our attention we finally got his tail to give cautious and stooped wags every now and then. On Monday, someone new entered the picture. Our Ugandan house helper, Juliana, came. When she tried to pet Lazoo, he shriveled back into the corner, frantically yelping and peeing. But by the next day, he would allow her to pet him, but only if I was with him.
One week later, he still won’t let us pick him up, and BOY – was it a ever a BIG mistake to try and put him on his leash. But overall his progress is amazing!! He loves playing tug of war and he is such a puppy when he steals socks out of the dirty clothes pile, trots out of the house, and enjoys his new-found toy until he is caught by one of us.
We love our dog, and we named his Lazoo after Lazarus, who was rescued from the grave – story written by Elianna.
Note from John: Elianna and I talked about how much our relationship with Lazoo teaches us about people and about God. When people get hurt, they also have a hard time trusting others. They don’t want to lose control again – so they shrink back into corners, not wanting to be picked up or be led on a leash. We cannot simply tell people who have experienced a lot of pain to “trust God” and see them instantly change and decide to trust God (and others). It takes time and God’s loving attention for people to come out of their own shell and learn to trust – to have faith – in God.