AUSTIN (KXAN) — On a dark, rural road southeast of Austin, Sasha Aghili takes a deep breath before unloading the "gear" from her car: liquid smoke, a blanket, a kennel and a whole rotisserie chicken. These are all supplies she uses to lure and trap street dogs. Sasha and her husband setting up a kennel to trap and rescue a stray (KXAN Photo/Avery Travis) For days, with the help of a neighbor, she has tracked and fed a black German Shepherd in the area. They believe the dog was dumped on the road more than a year prior. They hope the smell of the smoke and the promise of a meal will help the dog feel safe enough to come out and enter the kennel she has set up. From there, Aghili hopes to take the animal home and give it a bath, medical care and time to decompress. Eventually, she'd work to find its forever home. "I literally cry with every single dog, because I watch these dogs that have been so abused and so neglected, and they learn to be part of a family," she said. "It's so beautiful to see how they evolve." Over the last few years, Aghili has saved more than a thousand animals with the help of her family, several volunteers and her network of fosters, known as Jack Jack's Pack. The nonprofit finds lost pets and returns them to their owners. They also rescue and rehabilitate injured, abandoned and abused animals in and around Central Texas.  Sasha and her husband pulled over to rescue two dogs running through traffic on a state highway (KXAN Photo/Avery Travis) 'Great Uncle Jack-Jack' For Aghili, the mission is personal. In 2021, wind blew open the front door of her home. Within moments, she accounted for five of her dogs, but her beloved, 17-year-old rescue Chihuahua named Jack-Jack was gone. Her family searched on foot and by car, knocked on thousands of doors, put up signs, handed out fliers, hired a pet detective, contacted lost pet rescues and posted all over social media and animal search websites. They even got their story on the news but had no luck finding Jack-Jack. However, in the months she spent searching for Jack-Jack, Aghili instead found dozens of other dogs in need. She reconnected as many of them as she could with their terrified families, and she adopted several of them into her own family. One of them, as fate would have it, was named Jack. From there, Aghili turned her tragedy into a full-time job rescuing dogs. "I tell every single one, 'You thank your Great Uncle Jack-Jack,'" she said, wiping back tears. Aghili believes the number of street dogs has skyrocketed in recent years, as area shelters closed intake due to overcrowding. "My phone is constantly going off, so I get calls all day about dumped dogs: dogs that are on the corner of a highway, dogs that are in dangerous neighborhoods, dogs that are on the back of a country road where they're not getting anything from anybody," Aghili said. Jack-Jack (left) went missing in 2021. (Photo: Sasha Aghili) Sasha and her family put up signs and posters after Jack-Jack went missing (Photo: Sasha Aghili) Sasha and her dogs (Photo: Sasha Aghili) One of the first dogs Sasha rescued after Jack-Jack went missing (Photo: Sasha Aghili) One of the dogs Sasha rescued after Jack-Jack went missing and Sasha's child (Photo: Sasha Aghili) One of the dogs Sasha rescued after Jack-Jack went missing (Photo: Sasha Aghili) One of the dogs Sasha rescued after Jack-Jack went missing (Photo: Sasha Aghili) One of the first dogs Sasha rescued after Jack-Jack went missing (Photo: Sasha Aghili) One of the dogs Sasha rescued after Jack-Jack went missing (Photo: Sasha Aghili) Jack Jack's Pack often has to prioritize the worst cases. Aghili refers to these dogs as "911s." "I hate it because I can't save every single one that I want to save every day. So, it's always: 'What is the worst 911 out of all of these dogs?' So when there's like, the one that's been shot or that's been hit by a car, it's like, 'Okay, well, we've got to go get that dog right now.'" 'They would die without you' Aghili almost always brings the dogs to Mercy Veterinary Hospital in Leander for care. On the day KXAN shadowed her, she brought in a dog named Alfie, who was found with wire wrapped around his waist. Aghili described him as being "literally severed in half" as his body grew around the tight wire. Mercy's Dr. Shane Daigle called it one of the worst cruelty cases he had seen. Still, Aghili described Alfie as resilient: "It's baby steps, but it grows into the most beautiful thing." At least four other Jack Jack's Pack rescues were receiving life-saving care at Mercy, alongside Alfie. So far, Jack Jack's Pack has covered at least $222,000 in medical care for her rescues -- not including some emergent costs. It's just part of why they rely on donations from the community. "If you don't want to give me money, if you just call the vet and call in a credit -- that's so helpful," Aghili said. She also noted they accept donations of H-E-B Heritage Ranch grain-free food for the dogs. Sasha Aghili checks on one of her fosters at Mercy Veterinary Hospital (KXAN Photo/ Avery Travis) Sasha Aghili checks on one of her fosters at Mercy Veterinary Hospital (KXAN Photo/ Avery Travis) Sasha Aghili checks on one of her fosters at Mercy Veterinary Hospital (KXAN Photo/ Avery Travis) Sasha Aghili holds an injured puppy at Mercy Veterinary Hospital (KXAN Photo/ Avery Travis) Additional donations will someday help them fulfill her longtime dream of building a "safe haven." She and her husband envision buying a property and building "doggy condos" where the animals can begin to decompress in a homelike environment, as they learn to adjust to life with her family or with a foster. "If I had four 911s in a day, I could bring four 911s in and not wait for someone to say yes to foster," she said. "Unfortunately, some dogs do die waiting. So, that's very hard for me." On the way out to trap the black German Shepherd southeast of town, Aghili and her husband spotted some other dogs running through traffic on a busy state highway. She began calling her network of foster volunteers. "Basically we are doing a foster plea right now because I don't want to leave them behind," Sasha said, snapping photos and videos of the pups. "Because this is where it gets really, really ugly," she said. As the sun began to set, a heartbreaking scene unfolded on the side of the road: two happy dogs snuggling Aghili, playing and waiting to be taken home, alongside the body of another dog who had likely been hit by a car and left for dead. "This is a dumping ground," Aghili said. Her husband added, "I hate it out here." After nearly half an hour of waiting, a newer volunteer named Stephanie picked up the phone and agreed, on the spot, to take both dogs. She said she was with family and wouldn't have picked up the phone for anyone except Sasha. "They would die without you, and I just want you to know you are really saving two lives," Aghili cried. With a trapping kennel taking up the truck bed and other equipment filling the backseat, the two last-minute additions plopped right in Sasha's lap in the passenger seat. Then, they all headed off to track down their initial target: the black German Shepherd. Hours delayed and by the light of the moon, they set up the "gear" and began the long wait. Aghili insisted they would wait as long as it takes -- for this dog and for all the others. "I will never stop this," she said. "We're going to make [the safe haven] happen because I can't keep saying no to so many dogs, and I know we can get them adopted out. I always tell people, they don't stay with us forever, but they can stay as long as they need to." Dozens of people nominated Aghili for KXAN’s Remarkable Women contest. It’s part of a nationwide initiative to recognize the great contributions women have made to our communities and honor the influence women have had on public policy, social progress and quality of life. To explore the stories of Remarkable Women from previous years, click here. KXAN's Kevin Baskar and Eric Lefenfeld contributed to this report. ...read more read less