Volunteer veterinarian Debbie Tegarden Joins Rogue Valley Street Dogs in Ashland

This story was first published in the Ashland Sneak Preview in March 2026.

On a chilly winter morning in Ashland, local veterinarian Debbie Tegarden joins Rogue Valley Street Dogs in the parking lot of The OHRA Center. Every third Thursday, Rogue Valley Street Dogs holds an outreach event for residents at the OHRA shelter and for the unhoused community, offering free essentials to those who need it, including dog and cat food; flea, tick, and worm medications; gear from harnesses to collars to winter coats; vaccines; and spay/neuter appointments.

Since 2013, Rogue Valley Street Dogs has been helping pets in need — and sometimes what the animals need most is veterinary care. Starting in April, Dr. Tegarden will be a regular volunteer with Street Dogs at OHRA. Today, she’s here to observe, then discovers she already has patients who need her.

First, she follows Jessie Gallerani across the parking lot to his truck, where his dog Saku is resting in the back. A giant American mastiff, Saku has an ear infection from a bite wound, and while Jessie has been cleaning and treating it as best he can, he’s glad to have Dr. Tegarden available to take a look.

Dr. Debbie Tegarden examines Saku.

Dr. Tegarden examines Saku’s ears and neck, telling Jessie that she thinks it’s best that Saku is sedated for treatment. Jessie has already gotten spay/neuter surgeries for his other dogs, and Saku is on the waiting list. Dr. Tegarden makes a call, securing an appointment at West Main Animal Hospital in Medford for Saku to have treatment and neuter surgery the next day.

“It helps that I worked there for so long,” says Dr. Tegarden, who was in practice at West Main for 13 years before she sold the business. “I stayed with the new owners for a few years, and then I decided I wanted to take a sabbatical and be more present for my kids, and one of the things I wanted to do was give back to the community as well.”

Dr. Tegarden has a long history with Rogue Valley Street Dogs, having met one of its founders, Nancy Lyon, back when she was a veterinarian in Seattle. The two reconnected in Southern Oregon years later. “And so when she came to me — she literally started Street Dogs by going out on the street and saying, ‘Hey, can I pay for your dog to get spayed or neutered out of my pocket?’ — she approached me and asked if I would do any of those surgeries at a discount, and I said, ‘Absolutely.’”

In a veterinary practice, Dr. Tegarden says, “you have to make the financials work to keep your staff paid and to keep it afloat, and I thought at some point I would really like to go do something that wasn’t focused on that — using the skills I’ve been really blessed to have and doing something for people in the community who can’t afford to do all of that.”

Her busy morning continues as Dr. Tegarden examines Rocky, a tiny shih tzu cockapoo who’s been limping. Being in a parking lot doesn’t allow for more than a basic exam, but it’s a start — and it’s the only chance Rocky and his person have to see a vet. “I didn’t get to do everything,” Dr. Tegarden says, “but it sounded like maybe he had a history of his kneecap popping back and forth, which is called luxating patella. And that’s really common in little dogs. And so rest and anti-inflammatories most of the time will get rid of something minor like that.”

Dr. Debbie Tegarden examines Rocky.

She gives Rocky’s human anti-inflammatories and says to come see her again if Rocky is still having issues the next month, when Street Dogs is back at OHRA. “It’s nice that they have that follow-up already set up.”

Dr. Tegarden, who also volunteers two or three days a month doing surgeries at the FOTAS Community Spay & Neuter Clinic, hopes to be at Street Dogs outreach events in Medford as well, so she can see as many animals as possible. “You can’t do the same kind of medicine, so it’s harder in that way,” she says, “but you’re giving something to those animals that they wouldn’t be able to get. They don’t have another option.”

Saku, the American mastiff with the infected wound, ended up having extensive wound treatment as well as neuter surgery at West Main by veterinarian Sky Moiseeva, another Street Dogs volunteer. “They were glad he came,” Dr. Tegarden says. “He really needed to be under anesthesia to do all of that work.”

Cases like Saku’s, she says, make what she does worthwhile. “That’s where it’s really rewarding,” she says. “You have a person that’s really trying to do the right thing … he obviously loves his dogs a ton, but [this] was beyond what he could do. That dog just needed somebody that had the expertise. And it feels really great when somebody wants to do well by their pet, and then you can provide that little piece that helps make it happen.”