When Jonathan Beyer agreed to relocate from Seattle to Las Vegas with his dog, Anabelle, he didn’t expect to be homeless upon arrival.

In Washington, he’d befriended a married couple over the course of six months and became their roommate. “They had said, ‘We’re gonna move back to Vegas. If you help us out a little bit financially, we have all kinds of friends in Vegas that can help you,” he says.

Beyer footed the bill for the move. But by the time they landed in Las Vegas in 2018, the couple suggested he stay at a motel overnight as they met with some on-the-ground contacts. They said they’d pick him up in the morning. “They never showed up,” he says.

So Beyer, with just a suitcase of clothes and no money left to afford the motel, slept outside on a chilly February night behind the building.

“I took my clothes out of my suitcase and just laid them on the ground,” he says. “It was dark and I thought, ‘Well, when the sun comes up, it’ll be warmer. My dog has short hair, so I tried to keep her warm, but I didn’t have my winter jacket anymore. … So I wrapped her up in clothes. And I managed to make it through the night.”

Beyer bounced between the streets and Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada for years after that, with Anabelle serving as a furry and loyal companion through one of his darkest times. “I thought about suicide a couple times,” he says. “But there was always something inside of me that said, ‘You just have to hang on.’”

Beyer hung on long enough for Street Dogz to find him and Ana.

Established in 2014, Street Dogz specializes in helping pet owners in need, whether they’re struggling on the streets with their pets or disabled and stuck at home. “Our mission is to keep them together, not to separate them,” says Cheryl Noori, founder of Street Dogz.

The Las Vegas nonprofit provides everything from pet food and strollers to umbrellas, collars, coats and even items for humans. On top of that, Street Dogz leverages its partnerships with other organizations to offer services such as dog grooming and vaccinations. There’s a clubhouse full of donations from the community, Noori says, and the volunteer team distributes resources at distribution sites every month.

That’s how Beyer got connected with the nonprofit. “He reached out and said he had a chance at a job,” Noori recalls. But Beyer couldn’t leave Anabelle at the shelter, and Street Dogz didn’t yet offer day boarding the way it does now.

So Street Dogz’s Janice Tucker offered to foster the dog for several months while Beyer worked during the week. “I was very hesitant to let anybody watch Ana ... but I knew I just had to take a chance,” he says.

Fast forward to today. Beyer speaks over the phone from his living room in his own apartment—furnished by Street Dogz. “They got me some nice chairs, a futon, a love seat and a pen that’s quite big. I can put Ana in that during the day,” he says.

Beyer now works full-time, and he credits much of his success to Street Dogz’s support. “People would be like ‘Maybe you need to get rid of your dog.’ I’m not getting rid of my dog,” he says.

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