I started bringing stray dogs into my home when I was younger than most people start making those kinds of decisions. No rescue organization backing me. No nonprofit funding. Just me, a dog that needed help, and the inability to walk away.

That first dog turned into multiple dogs. Street dogs, abandoned dogs, dogs in situations no animal should be in. I'd bring them home, clean them up, and work until I found them families who'd actually keep them—not shelters, not temporary fixes, but real homes with people who understood what loyalty meant.

I've rescued many dogs over the years—not for the applause, but because that's what you do when you see a problem: you fix it.

But here's what I learned: we're fighting the wrong battle.

For every dog pulled from a shelter to be fostered, five more arrive. For every family who adopts their new family member, ten more were surrendering theirs because life got hard. We were treating symptoms while the disease spread.

The "overcrowded shelter crisis" isn't a shelter problem. It's a family support problem. It's an abandonment epidemic. And no one was addressing it at the source.

So I built Pack Ops.

This isn't charity. This is tactical intervention. We fight on two fronts:

FRONT 1: PREVENTION. We don't wait for families to surrender their dogs—we deploy BEFORE that crisis hits. Porch deliveries. Emergency vet care funding. Whatever it takes to keep dogs WITH families, where they belong.

FRONT 2: RESCUE & SURRENDER PREVENTION. When prevention isn't possible—when a family absolutely has to surrender or when a dog is in a genuinely bad situation—we're the safety net. They call us FIRST, not the shelter. We take the dog, find them a real home, and keep them out of the overcrowded system. We pull dogs from abuse, neglect, and abandonment. We do the rescues that need doing.

But make no mistake: our primary mission is stopping surrenders before they happen. The rescues are the backup plan. Prevention is the victory. We fund the fight that actually matters: keeping loyal dogs with the people they've stood by through everything.

My ultimate mission? A sanctuary where rescued dogs don't sit in kennels waiting for adoption—they live their best lives in open land, community, and dignity until the right family finds them. Not a shelter. A home base for warriors on four legs.

But that dream requires resources, infrastructure, and a nationwide movement. Pack Ops is the first deployment.

THE VISION:

Phase 1: What we're doing now—proactive family support across Cleveland (food, vet care, supplies) PLUS direct rescue operations when families need to surrender or dogs need immediate help.

Phase 2: Expand nationwide. Every major city gets a Pack Ops chapter. Operators funding missions coast to coast. Prevention + rescue in every region.

Phase 3: Affordable vet care centers where families can get quality medical care without choosing between their dog and their rent. No more dogs dying because their family can't afford a $500 procedure.

Phase 4: International rescue deployments. Dogs suffering in other countries deserve warriors too. We'll deploy there.

Phase 5: The sanctuary. Acres of land. Dogs living outside kennels. A network of foster families and a new standard for rescue operations. Open-air living. Community integration. Real rehabilitation.

The endgame: End dog neglect and abuse by building a culture where loyalty is non-negotiable and abandoning your pack is unthinkable. Create the standard. Build the infrastructure. Make it impossible for families to fall through the cracks. And when dogs need rescue, we're there.

This isn't just about feeding dogs. It's about restoring the warrior mentality where you protect what's yours, you stand by those who stood by you, and you don't quit when life gets hard. And when you absolutely have to make an impossible choice, Pack Ops takes the weight so the dog doesn't pay the price.

Pack Ops is the tactical arm of Iron & Bloom Co.—where we build internal strength through mental health, fitness, and personal development, then deploy that strength to protect the vulnerable. If you want to be a warrior, you can't just work on yourself. You have to defend something worth defending.

Dogs are loyal when humans aren't. They show up when everyone else walks away. They deserve warriors who do the same.

That's why I built this. That's why we deploy. That's why no dog gets left behind on our watch.

Sophie is the founder of Pack Ops and Iron & Bloom Co., a comprehensive movement restoring mental health, personal development, relationship excellence, and physical wellness through conservative values and warrior culture. When she's not deploying missions for Pack Ops, she's building programs that transform people into the versions of themselves worthy of a dog's loyalty.

Connect: sophie@thepackops.org | @sophie_strizz