Dogs, rabbits and rodents are waiting patiently for a new home at the Humane Society of the Ochocos in Prineville.

Since mid-November the shelter has been close to, and sometimes just beyond, capacity.

The primary overcrowding problem has been with the dogs. There are 26 kennels available to dogs waiting for adoption. Litters of puppies, and dogs who socialize well, will sometimes share a kennel, said Leta Bidwell, a kennel technician.

Even with that amount of space, the shelter has had to put up two outdoor portable kennels for the time being, although they’ve been up since mid-November. As of Friday there were a total of 27 dogs of all ages, sizes and breeds being housed and available for adoption.

Bidwell said recent bad weather and families getting rid of their dogs account for most of the surge. However, there are other factors.

There have been a lot of stray dogs coming from Christmas Valley, where there is no animal shelter, Bidwell said.

Also, two dogs that survived Hurricane Katrina were able to find refuge in the Prineville shelter. One of them is ready to be adopted.

The other, having been quarantined and caged for a few months now, is beginning to show signs of aggression and must wait for a foster family that can handle him.

”It (aggression) happens when they’re in kennels for months on end,” said Sue Netsch, another kennel technician at the humane society.

On Friday, the shelter was able to transfer six dogs to the Portland Humane Society, which relieved some valuable spaces.

”Everything is actually going OK right now,” said Leta Bidwell. She added that despite the high numbers, the shelter is not feeling too much stress from the situation.

Bidwell said the hardest part about the overcrowding is the effect it has on strays. The shelter has three kennels available for housing stray dogs when they first come in. Although the dogs may be promptly moved into a regular kennel, there are no regular kennels to move them into right now.

That means that there are no vacant kennels for strays. So despite the numerous calls being received by the shelter from people reporting stray dogs, there is very little shelter workers can do about it.

In overcrowding situations, the shelter works to adopt or transfer dogs out to other shelters as opposed to euthanizing them. The shelter, which has a low euthanasia rate, said Bidwell, will only euthanize older animals given up for adoption by their owners, and dogs that suffer from irreversible cage stress.

Dogs aren’t the only animals in abundance at the Prineville humane society. Numbers of rabbits, gerbils and hamsters are also on the rise.

The seven rabbits in residence at the shelter live in cages that don’t allow them much room to run around. Two recent additions means that the rabbits have even less space to share, with there being only six cages for rabbits.

One rabbit that has been there for five months is allowed to run around and play with the cats sometimes during the day. However, Bidwell said he is starting to show signs of stress from his prolonged stay.

”Rabbits don’t do well in these conditions,” said Bidwell.

As of Friday there were 34 cats at the shelter waiting for adoption, as well. The shelter has 34 cat cages that can each house from one to four cats at a time.