Cheryl Wicks went from cage to cage at the Nevada County Animal Shelter Tuesday, calling each dog by name.

When she came to an unfamiliar muzzle, Wicks wiggled a finger through the chain link to get acquainted with one of the shelter's endless stream of new arrivals.

"Hang in there buddy," she said to one of three new dogs brought to the shelter in less than an hour last Friday.

With too many lost and abandoned pets and not enough cages to go around, Wicks said it's the animals that have been at the shelter longest that are most in danger of being put down.

"It's a pity that healthy, adoptable animals are euthanized because they can't find homes," said Wicks, the shelter's volunteer coordinator.

As of Tuesday, the shelter had 24 dogs, well over its intended capacity of 13.

"If just 10 people in this county of nearly 100,000 adopted a dog, none of them would have to be put down," said Wicks, who added that nearly 750 mostly healthy cats and dogs were euthanized in western Nevada County animal shelters last year.

Wicks and other shelter volunteers cheered Tuesday when they got word that Mickey had found a home. The 75-pound Labrador retriever/border collie mix turned up at the shelter July 2 and was near the top of the list of dogs to be put down.

"We originally came here to visit the kittens, but the kids wanted a dog and Mickey was the perfect fit," said Steve Lance of Grass Valley, who went to the shelter Tuesday with his sons Casey and Zach.

"I would say to anyone with the slightest interest in getting a cat or dog to come by the shelter," he said. "They'll probably end up finding the perfect pet."

Grass Valley stepsisters Reeci Hagan, 12, and Angel Davis, 11, are two of the shelter's younger volunteers.

The two were at the shelter Tuesday cuddling the kittens and playing with the puppy they'd picked out for adoption.

"We have two dogs, two cats, two rabbits and two birds," Hagan said.

"And we wanted a baby dog for our baby sister," Davis added.

Still trying to decide what to call the little Australian terrier mix, the sisters said it was a toss up between Houdini and Midge.

Hagan and Davis became shelter volunteers this summer and both know what happens when homes can't be found for the cats and dogs that end up there.

"We don't want see the dogs put to sleep," Hagan said.

"It would be sad because they have lives to live too," Davis added.

While some cats and dogs are picked up by animal control officers, others are brought to the shelter by owners who say they've become a nuisance and they don't want them anymore, said kennel attendant Ruth Rasmussen.

But before giving their pets up to the shelter, Rasmussen said pet owners should do everything they can to find good homes for them.

"It's too easy for people to dump their animals on us," Rasmussen said. "But we're the ones who end up having to put them down if we can't find them homes."

For more information on how to adopt a pet, become a shelter volunteer, or for tips on how to deal with pets with behavioral problems, call Wicks at 272-8833.