Lazaruff eludes death, finds home in Idaho
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER)Terry and Breanna Franck get to know Lazaruff after the dog made it to the Panhandle Animal Shelter after a nine-month recovery following his discovery in an abandoned Louisiana home.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Terry and Breanna Franck pose with Lazaruff after their adoption of the dog was given the thumbs up by veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker, who along with his wife, Theresa, had been going to adopt Lazaruff but realized he would be happier in an only-dog home and put him up for adoption through the Panhandle Animal Shelter’s Home to Home program.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) A sign at the Panhandle Animal Shelter welcomes Lazaruff to the facility after a crosscountry trip with veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and his wife, Theresa. The couple met Lazaruff after he was rescued from an abandoned house, where he was found near-death and nursed back to health by a team of dedicated veterinarians and volunteers. The couple had been going to adopt Lazaruff but realized he would be happier in an only-dog home and put him up for adoption through the Panhandle Animal Shelter’s Home to Home program.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Lazaruff wears a little bit of Mardi Gras flair after making it home to Sandpoint, where he was adopted by a local couple, Terry and Breanna Franck after they saw his profile on the Panhandle Animal Shelter’s Home to Home website.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Lazaruff gives veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker a lick on the ear after being welcomed home to Sandpoint, where he was adopted by a Sandpoint couple. Becker and his wife, Theresa, met Lazaruff after he was rescued from an abandoned house, where he was found near-death and nursed back to health by a team of dedicated veterinarians and volunteers. The couple had been going to adopt Lazaruff but realized he would be happier in an only-dog home and put him up for adoption through the Panhandle Animal Shelter’s Home to Home program.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Lazaruff enjoys a moment outside after making it home to Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker gives Lazaruff a hug. The pup, who had been placed on the Panhandle Animal Shelter’s Home to Home website, was quickly adopted by a couple who saw his profile.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER)A representative from EzyDog watches as Dr. Marty Becker gives Lazaruff a hug and gets a little loving from Mandy Evans, Panhandle Animal Shelter executive director.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Breanna Franck gets a snuggle from Lazaruff after the Sandpoint resident and her husband, Terry, adopted him after the pup was brought to Sandpoint by Dr. Marty Becker after he was rescued from an abandoned house, where he was found near-death and nursed back to health by a team of dedicated veterinarians and volunteers.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER)Lazaruff enjoys a moment with veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and Mandy Evans, executive director of the Panhandle Animal Shelter. after making it home to Sandpoint after a nine-month recovery following his discovery in an abandoned home in Louisiana.
PONDERAY — A severely neglected pit bull that slipped the cold embrace of death in Louisiana is landing in a warm tub of butter in Idaho.
How? With a flick of his tail, it turns out.
The dog was discovered in an abandoned house in St. Landry Parish last year. He was initially reported to be deceased, although volunteers discovered he had hadn’t yet crossed the bar separating the river of life from the boundless deep.
Nevertheless, the grim arithmetic of the dog’s emaciation and disease suggested the most humane thing to do would be to euthanize him, according to renowned veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker, who was volunteering with his wife, Teresa, at a clinic for homeless pets and the pets of low-income residents in Louisiana.
But the 19-pound dog’s life force stirred as death closed in.
“He wagged his tail,” Marty Becker said in a blog post recounting the tale of survival of a dog initially called Relic but is now known as Lazaruff because he essentially came back from the dead.
In his 40 years in the veterinary service, Marty Becker said he’d never seen a dog in worse shape.
“I’ve personally never seen a dog that starved before,” Becker said in a phone call from the road on Saturday.
Laz was placed on a road to recovery that restored his appetite with the help of nutritionists. Laz was also aggressive, raising questions if he had somehow been involved in dog fighting.
However, over the course of treatment that suspicion was ultimately deemed unfounded.
“It was just fear. The dog just had fear,” Becker said.
All told, Laz spent nine months in recovery and now tips the scales at 66 pounds.
The Beckers were so taken with Laz that they intended to adopt him, but soon realized that he likely wouldn’t be a good fit with their menagerie of animals in Boundary County. The Beckers turned to the Panhandle Animal Shelter, which placed Laz in the shelter’s Home to Home program, which strives for seamless pet adoptions.
A friend of the Beckers offered to pony up airfare to fly Laz from Louisiana to Idaho, but found that airlines discriminate against Laz’s breed. So the Beckers opted to drive Laz from the Southeast to the Inland Northwest, a 2,300-mile trek.
“It just happened to be over Easter, which was ironic,” Becker said.
Becker also saw Laz’s personality emerge over the course of the trip. At the start, Laz was too timid to get on or off hotel beds. But by the time they reached Spokane, Laz was confidently bounding across beds.
“He had an exuberance. He had a joy that we hadn’t seen,” Becker said.
Finding a new home in Idaho for Laz turned out to be swift.
“It literally so happened that we put him on the Home to Home a few days before he arrived and within that time period were able to find a family that they felt was a good match,” said Mandy Evans, executive director of the Panhandle Animal Shelter.
Enter Breanna and Terry Franck, who were moved to adopt Laz after learning of his touching story of survival on the shelter’s Facebook page.
“We instantly fell in love with him and knew that we wanted him to be a part of family. He’s a great fit,” said Breanna Franck.
The feeling was apparently mutual.
“He was instantly drawn to us. He was leaning into us, kissing us and playing. He’s very friendly. He’s not shy at all,” said Franck.
Breanna Franck said Laz is naturally curious and loves the waterfront, even if he’s confounded by wave action on Lake Pend Oreille.
“He loves to go to the beach. He’s scared of the waves, but he likes to run up to them and then run away,” Breanna Franck said.
Laz is likewise intrigued by the Franck’s cat, but the feline is having nothing to do with the new addition to the home so far.
“He’s very curious to see what she is and wants to sniff her, but she just runs away from him,” she said.
Evans said Laz’s placement in a new forever home demonstrates the effectiveness of the shelter’s Home to Home program, which is now utilized at shelters nationwide.
“It’s just a testament to how successful it is,” Evans said. “It worked.”