Jill Vacchina Dobbs

Crazy Laughter. Rainforest Fanatic. Covert Comedian. Lover of Disco Balls.

Jill is a third generation, native Nevadan. She graduated with honors from UC-Santa Barbara, worked in the financial services and tech industries, and graduated cum laude from Gonzaga Law School. After graduation, she primarily practiced transactional and nonprofit law (she is licensed in NV and CA, inactive status). She sat on the board of the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe, serving for 10 years, 6 years as Board President, where she honed her life’s passion to advocate for homeless pets.

At the SPCA of Northern Nevada since 2016, Jill has created a supportive work environment empowering others to be their best and use their passion to save and improve the lives of pets and people. She is grateful for her stellar team every day! Jill focuses on creating positive collaborations throughout our community, and beyond, to better serve pets and pet lovers.

Jill was appointed to the WCRAS Advisory Board in 2016 and enjoys serving WCRAS and the community on this important board. You can email the board directly: advisoryboard@washoecounty.gov. She also sits on the Options Veterinary Care advisory board and is proud of Options’ growth as the only nonprofit, full-service vet clinic in Nevada!

Like many northern Nevadans, Jill is an active outdoor enthusiast. She’s constantly entertained by her son and SPCA-NN rescues: Touch of Gracie, Ash, Butters, Koala, and Panda! Jill knows she has the greatest job in the world and the SPCA-NN is very lucky to have her at our helm as we strive to make all of northern Nevada a safe and loving community for pets!

Do you know how animal control and pet adoptions work in Northern Nevada? If there is a stray animal, who picks it up and what happens next? On this episode of Renoites, Conor speaks with the executive director of the SPCA of Northern Nevada, Jill Vacchina Dobbs about how the system works and much more.

 Jill and Conor explore how the animal control process works in Northern Nevada, and what happens when parts of that process fail (spoiler alert: it means overflowing shelters and animals at risk of being euthanized for space), how COVID affected animal adoptions, bans of specific dog breeds here and around the world, the challenges of finding pet-friendly housing in a tight market, and much more! 

Listen to the interview HERE