Saints of the West, the biggest St. Bernard rescue on the West Coast, has seen a lot of new faces recently. And one of them had a big surprise. Three-year-old Espie came to the rescue severely malnourished, and it wasn't clear when she got there that she was expecting.

"The owner was only feeding her every other day because they couldn't afford it, and so we had a lot of work to do," said Lori Juenke with Saints of the West.

When the time came, Espie couldn't do it all on her own. But she had plenty of help from her new family.

"We had to find a vet," Juenke said. "We ended up in the emergency room to do a C-section because she couldn't deliver on her own."

All 15 puppies survived, and are now thriving, thanks to around-the-clock care.

"What people don't realize is the work that goes into having puppies," Juenke said. "You don't just leave them with mom. Mom can squash them - not on purpose, but she can roll over on them - and so every 2 hours we're up feeding them, 5 at a time, making sure everyone is getting fed."

Local pet store Pet Station and the SPCA have been helping out with food and supplies for the family, but the surgery was an expensive one, so the nonprofit has set up a GoFundMe account to help with those costs. Now, these little ones are looking for their forever homes - but keep in mind, they won't look like this for long.

"They get up to 125-150 pounds and they are a strong dog because they're a working dog," Juenke said. "And they can be in the house, they love to be with the family, but they need a lot of socialization too. They're not a dog to leave in the backyard and feed once or twice a day, they need to be with the family and they need to be out doing stuff."

The adoption process is a rigorous one, but Saints of the West will be there every step of the way.

"When you adopt a dog from us, you have us for life," Juenke said. "And I don't care if it's 6 months or 6 years, you have a question or a problem, you call me. We're here for you."

www.saintsofthewest.com

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/puppies-and-transportation