Loyal Saint Bernard fAns Bring Aid To Dog Breeder

DRAIN, Ore. - Dog lovers from around the world have rallied to help an 84-year-old Saint Bernard breeder rebuild after a fire destroyed her rural home and killed two of her pets.

Bea Knight has spent the last 50 years at Sanctuary Woods, a forested homestead her parents settled in 1910 about 25 miles from this southern Oregon town.

The small house that burned March 26 was built in the early 1980s to replace a house Knight and her husband built in 1945.

Since the fire, Knight, who was not insured, has moved temporarily into a friend's small trailer on her property. But neighbors, dog breeders and families who own dogs raised by Knight are uniting to help rebuild her home.

Victor Eski, an architect who has owned a number of Knight's Saint Bernards, is coordinating the project. Eski said he has received more than 300 phone calls from people throughout the United States and the world who want to help.

``These people don't owe me anything,'' Knight said. ``But somehow they've got it in their heads that I have magic when it comes to breeding Saint Bernards.''

Knight's house quickly filled with flames March 26 after a stove fire went out of control.

Frightened for the safety of her beloved dogs, Knight quickly herded 20 of them - Saint Bernards and tiny Papillons - into the back of an old van.

In addition to the loss of two Saint Bernards and her house, she lost her prize-winning dogs' records and papers, hundreds of dog show trophies and paintings and photographs of her pets.

The fire hasn't broken Knight's spirit.

``Some people think I'm a nut and maybe I am,'' Knight said as she rested in a lawn chair a hundred feet from her home's ashes. ``But I'm one of the happiest old nuts in Oregon. I've got a lot to be thankful for, even if my house did burn down.''

In 1986, on the 100th anniversary of the setting of national standards for Saint Bernards, the Saint Bernard Club of America dedicated its annual convention to Knight.

The previous year, the club paid Knight's way to an international convention in Switzerland.

Some of Knight's dogs have gone on to reside with such celebrities as Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra. One of her dogs starred from 1953 to 1955 in the television series Topper.

Knight has lived alone since her husband died in 1981 but she said she has plenty of visitors - not to mention the dogs, a mule, horses, cats and 13 peacocks - to prevent her from getting lonely.

She knows each of her 40-odd dogs by name and laughed when a visitor wondered how she could keep the creatures straight. ``You wouldn't mix up your children, would you?'' she asks. ``These are my children.''

Dressed in sweat pants, a sweat shirt and boots, her white hair pulled into a loose bun, Knight seemed perfectly comfortable when a treasured Saint Bernard climbed onto her lap and nuzzled her face.

Knight said she can't imagine her life without the dogs, even though caring for them as they get older is costly.

``My dogs supported my family for many years,'' Knight said as a dozen canines vied for her attention. ``If I can't take care of them now in their old age, then I'm a pretty poor sport.''