Saints of the West Rescue & Adoption has been finding homes for purebred St. Bernard's for 25 years. The dogs have plenty of room to roam at their 40-acre site in Palomino Valley.

"We want to give a nice, quality dog, a healthy dog to a good family," said Rescue Coordinator Lori Juenke. "When someone adopts a dog from us, we give them a lot of information. I spend at least two hours with the person and we're going over paperwork, care, food, problems, the veterinarians, dog trainers, things like that."

St. Bernards are abandoned more often than a lot of other breeds, and the pandemic is taking a toll as well.

"People get these cute, little fluffy puppies, and they are just adorable, they're little snowballs and then they start to grow rapidly. I have a lot of people say well, I want the dog to grow up with my kids and I explain to them the dog is going to grow faster than your kids," Juenke said. "And the problem right now is people are out of work, they're losing their jobs, so they can't afford this dog. Usually in May and June, that's another time we usually get a lot of dogs because the high school senior is going off to college and Mom doesn't want this dog, so off to rescue it goes."

Right now their fundraising options are limited as well.

"A lot of our fundraisers are shut down," Juenke said. "Normally during this time we're in California and we're doing a big St. Bernard 4-day show that usually brings in $4,000. And just like every other rescue that's reaching out to me, its the little guys like Cat Commandos in Winnemucca that are starving for food, and we're trying to do what we can for them and that's been our biggest hit, is financial."

Since November they've been caring for a dog named Ruby, hit by a car and left to die in Northern California.

"The local animal control officers took her to a vet there and the vet let her sit for five days, waiting for an owner to show up," Juenke said. "That vet didn't do anything for her. She had a hole in her leg, compound fracture, maggots in her fur, and they let her sit for five days. I called animal control and said, asked if they were under the impression that they were going to care for her, and he said no. And I asked why not and he said because they don't have funds there to care for stray dogs. So the only thing they could do is put her down or take her there. I said well, the next time, you call me. We have drivers in California who can get the dog here and he said okay, go get her."

It's been a long road for Ruby since then.

"We took her to Sierra Veterinary Specialists and Emergency Center, and they called the other vet and asked, did you do -rays, expecting a full vet report because she'd been there for five days. No, they let her sit there. So a big thanks Sierra Vet. Since November now we've been working every week with Ruby, a couple surgeries, she's the most expensive dog we've ever had. We have had some guardian angels that have been helping, and we do have a GoFundMe account; we'd really appreciate a Ruby donation. But she's special, she's learning to walk again, she's getting her hardware out and at the end of the month she's going home."

The family of the driver that brought Ruby to Reno is opening their home to her.

"They said you know, we didn't think we were ready for another dog but we are," Juenke said. "We love her, we gotta have her."

There are plenty of other dogs there looking for their forever homes, and plenty of animals in general that want to find families. Juenke is asking those that are able to donate during this time to think of the small, local rescues that are struggling to save lives these days.

"Support your local rescues," she said. "A lot of the big rescues in town, they're doing great work, but there's so many more. There's a wolf rescue out here, there is a chicken rescue, rabbit rescues. I urge people to go online and look for your local little rescue or call your vet and ask, is there anything I can do to help out the little rescue. They probably won't need dog walkers or things like that but they'll need money, and every $5, $10, whatever you can give certainly helps."

For more information, visit their website: 

And if you'd like to visit the organization's GoFundMe page, visit: