Ashlea Andrews and  Dalton Tibbetts of Southport had no intention of getting another dog.

Petey, a 12-year-old miniature pincher that Tibbetts has loved for seven years, was the engaged couple’s family pet and a wonderful companion (though a bit grumpy, according to Andrews). But then came Laila, a sweet 1-2-year-old Australian cattle dog/Boston terrier mix that “is hard not to love” Andrews said.

Andrews and Tibbetts are a foster family for the Underhound Railroad, a dog adoption organization in based in Connecticut but with most of its foster families located in Maine. In 2013, they were asked to take care of Laila until a permanent home could be found.

“She has an awesome demeanor, and she's so smart,” Andrews said. “When I got her I kept telling myself 'We can't keep them all, we are doing this to make a difference.'”

Laila came from a terrible situation down south. She and 21 other dogs were confiscated in a neglect case, where the six children in the family were showing up to school smelling of urine. Child social workers came to the home, and in the end, all six children were placed in foster care, with all the dogs in the home going to the shelter, including Laila.

“A situation like that, it could have turned her feral,” Andrews said. “Instead she's loving, gentle, happy. She checks in on me to make sure I'm OK at work and school. And she's really good with Petey; she knows he's older than her and doesn't always want to play.

“She came to us and I looked in her eyes, and this is going to sound really cheeseball corny, but I could see she knew she was finally safe. She was home. Dalton let me win that one — she's our foster failure.”

“Foster Failure” is a joke in the Underhound Railroad where a foster home keeps their once temporary companions.

The co-founder of the organization, Hope Cruser, has two foster failures of her own, along with three other family dogs.

“It’s a passion,” Cruser said. “The longer we do this, the more joy we see it bring to us and the dogs.”

All the dogs who travel the Underhound Railroad are given personality tests to ensure they can handle the travel and the changing of homes. The Railroad relies totally on donations for transport, medical care and providing food for the rescues. Adoptions do require a small fee.

Before a dog can be adopted, an adoption application needs to be completed and a member of the Railroad does a home visit to ensure the situation is good for the dog and people involved.

“The people involved are so passionate about what they do,” Andrews said. “When we decided to become a foster family, we we instantly a part of the community. The group is full of hope and positive energy.”

“The more people who join us the lighter the load is for everyone,” Cruser said. “People like Ashlea are amazing, she has such a talent for organizing events and they’ve gotten better since she started.”

Wendy Yeaton, who works at the Animal House in Damariscotta, has had between 60 and 70 foster dogs come through her home as a member of the Underhound Railroad. When the transports from Georgia come up, her house is the first stop along the way. She has a couple of foster failures of her own, including a pit bull mix puppy.

“There was a mother, and her five babies she had in a shelter. They were sick and weak and I had to bottle feed them and do so much, but it’s worth it. When it was time to let them go I couldn’t let them all leave,” Yeaton said. “People don’t realize what goes into saving these dogs. We’re nurses, mothers, we’re everything to them. It’s all worth it but it takes a huge amount of work.”

“Ashlea is amazing,” Yeaton said. “She is energetic and has so many ideas and I’m thankful she’s here to take on some of the work — I’m not as young as I used to be!”

The Railroad has monthly events to raise money and give people a chance to meet some of the dogs available for adoption. The next one will be held from on March 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Animal House in Damariscotta. There will be a raffle and bake sale to help raise money.

Underhound Railroad is in dire need of donations right now; late last year they saved a litter of puppies afflicted with canine parvovirus, an often deadly disease if not caught in time. The puppies were saved, but the vet bills ran quite high and the organization is working to pay off the debt so they can continue to rescue more dogs.

Donations can be sent to Underhound Railroad, 2 Zimmerman Way, Ellington, CT 06029.

As of March 2014, 24 are looking for a forever home. To see adoptable dogs, visit www.petfinder.com/shelters/CT416.html.

“I'm very lucky to be able to do this,” Andrews said, “and the dogs are never alone because I can bring dogs to work with me at the Deck House School in Edgecomb (a boarding school for boys, age 14-19). The dogs get used to the kids and Laila has a set routine where she checks on the boys and the kids love having the dogs around. It's very therapeutic.”

History of the Underhound Railroad

The Underhound Railroad in a nonprofit co-founded in August of 2009 by Hope Cruser, who had been rescuing dogs since 1999. The organization started by rescuing dogs from a “kill” shelter (a shelter that will put animals down after a period of time) in Conneticut. Then she met Irene Williams, and together they made it their mission to find loving forever homes for as many dogs as possible.

Since then, the shelter in Connecticut has become a “no kill” shelter. The Railroad now focuses its efforts on taking dogs from a kill shelter in Georgia.

Underhound Railroad has more than 20 foster families where the dogs can stay until their forever homes are found. Most of these homes are in Maine, from Caribou to Berwick, with a couple scattered across New England.

According to Cruser, as of March 2014, over 1,000 dogs have been saved through the Underhound Railroad.