A Richland woman led a golden retriever into the Tri-City Animal Shelter in Pasco about 11 a.m. Thursday.

"Oh, must be another one," said the shelter's director.

Angela Zilar guessed right -- the clean, healthy dog wasn't a stray. It had darted away from fireworks and couldn't find its way back home.

Just like in years past, dozens of animals wiggled their way out of homes and backyards in panicked attempts to escape the loud noises of Fourth of July celebrations. Many end up at the shelter when owners can't immediately be found or the pets that aren't wearing collars.

And they still were coming Thursday.

The golden retriever was bolting across busy Van Giesen Street in Richland on Wednesday evening. It ended up crawling into Heidi Dagle's car as she pulled into her driveway on Alder Avenue.

"He looked like he was running away from something," Dagle said.

Fireworks were shot off just before the dog appeared, she said.

The dog had no collar, which meant no tags, so Dagle kept it in her yard overnight and fed it.

"He's very well-mannered," she said. "He's definitely from a good home."

After a good night's rest, she took the retriever to the shelter, hoping workers there could reunite it with its owner. Shelter workers found a microchip implanted in the dog and were tracking down its owner Thursday.

On Wednesday, the first day the shelter was open after the holiday weekend, 23 animals were dropped off, Zilar said.

Nearly all of them -- 21 -- were believed to have been sent onto Tri-City streets by exploding fireworks.

The shelter also received nearly 20 reports of missing dogs, Zilar said. But the dogs that were brought in weren't the ones that owners were looking for.

That mismatch of dropped-off dogs and searching owners could be one of several factors, Zilar said.

Owners who left town for a long holiday weekend had not yet realized their pet was missing.

Dogs could run a long way from home and owners wouldn't think to call the Tri-City shelter if they live in Prosser, for example.

And some of the dogs brought in weren't really scared off by fireworks, but simply dumped.

Several puppies were brought in Wednesday, for example. But puppies don't typically run away from fireworks, Zilar said.

"They just hunker down where they are," she said. "People dumping dogs use the Fourth as an excuse."

The numbers mean that about 40 dogs went astray in the Tri-Cities during the course of a few days. Most of these were preventable cases.

Pets should be kept inside of a secure location with a radio or TV playing when loud celebrations are going on outside. This will keep them safe and fairly calm, Zilar said.

If you're missing a pet or have found one, call the shelter at 545-3740 or stop by at 1312 S. 18th Avenue in Pasco from 9 a..m to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.