Downwardly: homeless dogs abandoned by foreclosed owners

"This year, (providing shelter) is much more important because of the economy," Moyer said. "We've seen lots of foreclosure dogs from people who lost their house and can't keep their dog, (and) unfortunately, some people just let them loose. On Thursday, we had five dogs brought in from animal control who were out running around in Waukegan."

Animal Education and Rescue founder Sandy Wisniewski said her organization sees too many dogs like Jessica, a 4-year-old Boston terrier with three puppies -- Dinker, Dot and Daphne -- who are victims of neglect.

"We get some dogs from police departments, some from animal control," Wisniewski said as a volunteer held up Jessica. "As you can see, she's lost a lot of hair from being infested with fleas, and she was obviously undernourished."

Among those who have adopted a dog out of Wisniewski's shelter are Linda Ploch and her daughter, Sarah, who found a fully-grown black Labrador named Charcoal about a year ago and now help the organization as volunteers. Ploch said one advantage of adopting a shelter dog is "you don't have to go through the puppy stage."