For years, Heather Marie Francois-Vaughan has been known to those close to her as "a crazy dog lady," taking in dogs (and cats) and giving them, at the very least, a place to stay for a while.

Now, she’s getting a chance to find unadopted animals homes on a much larger scale.

Francois-Vaughan, a Dartmouth resident, was recently selected out of more than 70 candidates to host "The Unadoptables," a web-based show that takes animals out of shelters and helps them become more “fit” for adoption. By providing the animals with veterinary care, grooming, training and more, Francois-Vaughan and Mike Silvia, the show’s creator, think they can get some of these “problem” animals into permanent homes.

“They’ve been sitting in a shelter,” said Francois-Vaughan. “We’re basically taking that animal, assessing what its needs are and getting it the care it needs.”

A senior research assistant at Brown University, Francois-Vaughan said she’d never had any on-camera experience prior to the casting call for the show, which took place at Hawthorne Country Club in May. Though nervous at first, she thought her experience with animals helped her get the job.

For years, Francois-Vaughan, who has permanently adopted two dogs and two cats, has regularly volunteered with PAWS of New England, a group that rescues abandoned, neglected, and abused dogs from high-kill shelters. Some might also remember her and husband Trevor as the foster parents of Momma Dill, a friendly, pit bull mix that spent three weeks on the loose in Padanaram recently before finally being tracked down and returned to her permanent foster home.

“I just decided to show up and do it,” said Francois-Vaughan of the casting call, noting that when producers first posted about the position opening, a number of friends reached out. “I had about 50 people tag me on Facebook.”

"I interviewed about 40 of the candidates, and I selected Heather because she has a lot of great qualities," said Silvia. "She is well spoken and was very comfortable in front of the cameras."

Silvia said her volunteer work with PAWS combined with her foster experience and the fact that she may pursue a career in the veterinary field were all factors that contributed to her being chosen.

"It doesn't get any more perfect than that," he said.

The plan is to film the first eight episodes of the show this Sunday. Each show will be approximately 10 to 15 minutes, with the cast and crew filming at Center for Animal Rescue in Acushnet and the Lighthouse Animal Shelter in New Bedford to start. Plans are for the webisodes to hit Youtube some time in July.

“Some places have multiple dogs that we can feature, and hopefully we can provide them a veterinarian, some training, grooming. It could end up taking a lot longer than we expect,” said Francois-Vaughan.

And as for Momma Dill?

“She’s still not adopted yet, but she’s doing good,” she said.