Nobody knew how long Franklin, a light-skinned pit bull mix, had been on the streets.

But everybody agreed that standing in a bathtub at the Animal Friends shelter yesterday, showered in almost equal parts water and affection, Franklin, with his skinny body, bite marks and a few bruises, didn't have much longer out on the streets, alone.

"We all know where he was headed," said Rick Novosel, a volunteer at the shelter's first Liberation Day Rescue.

Nestled in a wooded valley on Camp Horne Road in the North Hills, Animal Friends took in 10 dogs and three cats from animal control facilities in McKeesport, Upper St. Clair and Monroeville yesterday, said Jolene Miklas, a spokeswoman for the shelter.

About 25 volunteers received the animals, which were weighed, named, bathed, vaccinated, outfitted with microchips and then spayed or neutered as they were prepared to be adopted as early as Sunday.

"More dogs and cats are lost every year during the Independence Day weekend than any other holidays," Ms. Miklas said.

"Between outdoor activities, open doors and windows, and families leaving for vacations, animal control facilities are often inundated with stray pets, and sadly many of those animals are never reclaimed and they are often euthanized."

That is most likely what would have happened to Franklin or Yankee Doodle, a black Labrador mix puppy, or Zambelli, a black hound mix, among others rescued yesterday, said Mr. Novosel of Wexford, who owns two retrievers.

"I volunteer here for my soul," he said. "It breaks my heart to see how so many of these animals are lost or abused and what that does to their spirit. We try to make them feel loved again."

Jackie Tyler, an animal care worker and volunteer whose job yesterday was to lift the animals and put them in a big metallic bathtub, said she could feel the animals' initial anxiety about being petted or bathed.

"At first, they are very jumpy," she said. "They don't know what is happening to them. But they tend to settle down once they start to feel the petting, and then they stop trying to jump out of the tub."

Notwithstanding a few hesitations, however, "these dogs know when they have been saved," said Mary Schuller of McCandless, who was one of the team of volunteers drying the dogs with towels.

Named after characters and themes associated with Independence Day festivities, all of the animals were also put through a 45-minute behavioral test yesterday, Ms. Miklas said.

"Our intention is to get each and every one of these dogs adopted," she said. "We have ways of finding out whether a dog is very active or house trained, and if it isn't, then we house-train it."

A nonprofit organization, Animal Friends successfully places more than 2,000 dogs, cats and rabbits into adoption every year, Ms. Miklas said.

The shelter, which usually has a dog rescue event on New Year's Eve, hopes to have all the animals it rescued yesterday available for adoption Sunday.