If you’ve adopted a pet from the Rita B. Huff Animal Shelter any time in the past year, you’ve probably been walked through the process by an animal lover named Michelle Guidry.

A native of Houston, Guidry now lives in the Riverside area, and has devoted a large portion of her life to caring for animals, in Walker County and beyond.

“My first job was volunteering at a shelter in Seguin in the early 90s,” she said. “They had just a little facility, much smaller than this one.”

Guidry’s love of animals has always been a part of her life, ever since childhood, when animals of all kinds surrounded her.

“When I was growing up, we had anything from livestock to dogs and cats and birds,” she said. “I’ve always been around animals.”

Guidry first came to work for Rita B. Huff in 2002. She stayed for a year before leaving in the summer of 2003. She then returned in 2005 to work for another year, then returned again in July of 2008. That fall, she was named the shelter’s adoption consultant, a position she still holds.

“In between that I worked a bunch of other jobs. I did home health for a while, and I went back to school,” Guidry said. “But I keep coming back.”

As adoption consultant, Guidry advises every patron that visits Rita B. Huff through the adoption process, and provides tips and guidance for caring for new pets.

“Anybody that’s interested in adoption has to fill out an application, and then I forward the application to the manager to be approved, then I let them know if they’ve been approved or denied.”

According to Rita B. Huff executive director Marjolein Lemmon, Guidry’s time as adoption consultant has been marked by a greater involvement in the adoption process.

“The reason she became adoption consultant is because there’s more to the adoption than we used to do,” Lemmon said. “She’s really sitting down with these people and consulting them.”

Everyone adopting a pet through Rita B. Huff meets with Guidry, who walks them through a checklist of care concerns for their new pet.

“We used to tell people to just read and sign the form and a lot of times they didn’t really read it,” Guidry said. “So now, I sit down with them and go through the contract and answer all their questions.”

But Guidry’s help in the adoption process often extends further than what happens inside the animal shelter. A lifelong pet owner, her years of experience often serve to help new pet owners, who often call her for advice.

“I have 16 dogs at home, so personal experience is a big deal with me,” she said. “A lot of people call me with questions.”

Even at home, Guidry is constantly on the lookout for animals she can help. With 16 dogs and four cats, she claims she has rarely purchased a pet, preferring instead to rescue them.

“A lot of my dogs were rescue dogs,” she said. “I had a lab that someone dropped off that we just lost two months ago to cancer. We found him four years ago, and we took him in. He was an older dog, but we probably gave him the best four years of his life. Out of all my dogs, I think I’ve only bought two of them.”

Though she says some days, when the adoption rate seems to drop, her work can be a little discouraging, Guidry still finds endless rewards in her job.

“Sometimes it’s discouraging when the rates seem to drop off a little,” she said, “but I love it here. I get to meet people everyday, and I get to talk to them about our animals. And a lot of our animals do get adopted. Some people seem to think that we put some of the animals down as soon as they come in the door, but we don’t. We give them a chance here.”