PENDLETON — A German shepherd mix named Skye flopped out her tongue as Pendleton Animal Welfare Shelter Vice President Shaindel Beers sung her praises.

“I just think she’ll make someone a perfect friend,” she said.

Noah Winter also thought Skye would make a good friend. She had been searching for a dog for six months, and when Beers’ video popped up on Facebook, a friend alerted her. Winter didn’t know she would be able to adopt Skye so quickly after expressing interest, and she scrambled to get her home ready to receive her new dog.

Winter and Skye’s relationship got off to a raucous start as Skye was led out of the kennel into the lobby, driven to excitement by some barking dogs. Winter jokingly scolded Skye but even her mock anger didn’t last long.

“I think you show great promise,” she told Skye.

Skye was one of at least five animals adopted from PAWS on Thursday, July 8, as a part of the four-day “Empty the Shelters” event at the nonprofit’s Pendleton facility. Sponsored by a grant from a charity arm of the vacuum cleaner company Bissell, PAWS was able to lower its adoption fee for most dogs and cats to $25.

That’s a significant drop from the shelter’s regular adoption fees of $130 for adult dogs, for example, or $95 for kittens younger than 7 months. The discount even applied to the Pendleton Animal Welfare Shelter’s “Seniors for Seniors” program, which already knocks down fees for people 65 and older who adopt cats and dogs 7 and older. Under the program, seniors usually pay $49 for cats and $99 for dogs.

The lone exception to the grant discount was for the adoption of puppies 7 months and younger. That cost is $250. Beers explained that is to cover the shelter’s cost of providing puppies with all their vaccinations and spaying or neutering them.

PAWS is among the 180-plus shelters across 45 states and Canada participating in Empty the Shelters through the Bissell Pet Foundation. The event’s goal for the summer is to find forever homes for 4,000 pets.

Cathy Bissell started the foundation in 2011. She is married to Mark Bissell, CEO of Bissell Home Care Inc. According to the foundation’s website, between 6 and 7 million pets enter shelters each year, and more than 1 million of them are euthanized. The foundation’s goals are to help reduce the number of animals in shelters and rescues and to find a loving home for every pet.

Business at the Pendleton shelter was starting to pick up July 8, but it also made more work for staff and volunteers. Beers said all potential owners are vetted to make sure they’ll be able to take care of the animals, going as far as calling a landlord to make sure their rental property allows animals.

Kelli Dailey, a PAWS manager, said adoptions were spotty during the COVID-19 pandemic with adoptions and drop-offs coming in crests and waves.

Dailey didn’t know the exact reason why, but as the state begins to emerge from the pandemic, the shelter was starting to see more owners surrender their animals, a tough decision she wouldn’t want to make.

“I’d live in a car before giving up my dog,” she said.

The pandemic meant PAWS had to suspend their spaying and neutering clinics, a fact that meant Dailey was anticipating the shelter receiving more young animals in the future. She said she’s already seen an uptick in the number of puppies they’ve taken in.

It was too early for PAWS to determine whether “Empty the Shelters” would lead to a spike in adoptions, but Beers said she’s looking forward to the weekend when more people are off of work. The event runs through Saturday, July 10.