In early May, the Moyer Animal Shelter in Powell was overrun with dogs after many were captured and taken to the shelter in a short period.

Since then, the community has stepped up to help by adopting more than half of the available dogs, bringing the total down to seven. Volunteer Kim Curtis said in late May, two brown Lab puppies from the same litter and a yellow lab puppy were adopted by three different people all within a week.

“Labs go the quickest,” she said.

Some other breeds take a bit longer to adopt due to size or traits, but Curtis said they have even had a large malamute adopted by a North Fork couple who wanted a friend for their own large dog.

Puppies in general are popular, she said, but they did still have two dogs 6-9 months old as of last week, including an Australian shepherd mix and a brindle colored pup.

Puppies are more of a handful than the full grown dogs, she said, but it helps that puppies love to play.

“We take them out so they play and tumble, they’re not stuck in a kennel,” Curtis said.

And, she said for dogs with a strong food drive, milk bones are also a great help keeping dogs from getting too crazy.

The shelter also has three kittens among its 20 felines and some “nice older cats,” she said.

The cat population is also down from early May, when they had nearly 30, although they have the space to house a good bit more cats than dogs.

When the shelter had 15 dogs, they had to double up on a kennel. Usually they want to have kennels open for dogs picked up by a Powell community service officer. Those stray dogs often don’t last long, and Curtis said the recent slow down in the amount of dogs they have is due in part to owners being quick to retrieve stray dogs.

“A lot have been claimed by their owners, which is great,” she said.

While the shelter may be less overloaded than earlier in the spring, there are still plenty of animals to adopt, and seven dogs is still a lot for the small shelter. And while some of the dogs may not be for everyone — there’s a black mouth cur who doesn’t like men and a few dogs are not keen on chickens, cats or both — Curtis said all are very nice dogs and are ready to go to their forever homes.