Terri Bondi, founder of Save Underdogs, arranged to have all 47 dachshunds driven to her home Sunday night so that they wouldn't get in the hands of somebody who might have ill intentions.

Terri Bondi's phone never stops ringing.

As she sat on the back porch of her home in a quiet waterfront subdivision in Mary Esther on Monday afternoon, surrounded by 20 dachshunds, her phone rang every five minutes. People were calling to inquire about the dachshunds, who were all searching for foster homes, and they were also calling about other abandoned dogs that needed homes.

"All day," she said, shaking her head. "It never stops."

For Bondi, though, the never-ending phone calls are a labor of love. The wife, mother and founder of Save Underdogs, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to animal rescue in Northwest Florida, spends most of her days saving, caring for and finding homes for stray dogs. She estimates she has re-homed over 5,000 dogs in her decade of service to the Panhandle's furry residents.

"I just love animals. I have loved animals all my life," she said, tilting her face away from a tail-wagging dachshund in her lap trying to lick her chin. "I hate to see ones that I know could find homes be put down, when that's just not necessary."

Her most recent rescue was a group of 47 purebred dachshunds from Arkansas whose owner and breeder could no longer take care of them. Bondi heard about their predicament on social media and arranged to have all 47 dogs driven to her home Sunday night so that they wouldn't get in the hands of somebody who might have ill intentions.

But Bondi's home is only so big, and unlike larger animal rescue operations like Alaqua or PAWS, she doesn't have the space, manpower or resources to take in such a large number of animals. Alaqua took 27 of the dogs and she kept the remaining 20.

"We're a private rescue," Bondi said. "The main difference (between us and Alaqua) is that we don't have a facility ... we don't have overhead or employees."

Bondi brings all of the dogs and animals she rescues into her home before taking them to a local veterinary clinic, where they are treated for heartworms, parasites and other physical disabilities or abnormalities, and then spayed or neutered before being sent to live with temporary loving homes.

Monday afternoon, she took the dachshunds, crate by crate, to the Emerald Coast Animal Hospital on Mary Esther Cutoff. She helped the veterinarian and veterinary technicians process each dog and check for fleas, parasites and other problems that may require veterinary care. The vet techs discovered several of the dogs only had one testicle, indicating they were likely inbred.

Bondi said in terms of dog hoarding situations, the dachshunds' case wasn't as bad as other she has seen over the years.

"I started doing this on a real small scale, and now I have a group of volunteers — 20 people and about a dozen part-timers," she said. "When I pull dogs from shelters or wherever they come from, I take them to the vet and then they get to go to foster homes, which helps their social developments. And potential adopters get to see the personality and disposition of the dog."

Bondi says it is a struggle sometimes not having the resources of a larger rescue, such as on-site veterinary care or kennels, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

"We've rescued pot-bellied pigs and lizards and birds," she said. "It's very rewarding, even when you're exhausted and there's poop to clean up.

"Once you send one to a home and you get the pictures back and you see how great they're doing, it's worth it."