Finding Her Path

Michelle’s journey began years ago with a husky puppy named Autumn.

“I didn’t know anything at first,” she said. “She was anxious, energetic, and overwhelmed. I remember thinking, I have to learn how to help her. And once I started, I didn’t want to stop.”

Autumn became her teacher.

Behavior became her path.

Today, the animals who need extra time, patience, and understanding keep her going.

That early experience motivated Michelle to pursue certification in dog training, opening doors within animal-welfare work she hadn’t imagined. Her combined skills in behavior and rescue eventually brought her to Pets In Need, where she now uses both to support the animals who need her most.

Rescue and Behavior Work: A Dual Approach

Michelle’s work touches every animal that enters our doors. Animals come to us from San Francisco County, the South Bay, the Central Valley, Stockton, and sometimes from shelters as far away as Lake and Los Angeles Counties, where space is limited, and demand far outpaces available resources.

“Every animal that comes to Pets In Need gets evaluated,” Michelle said. “We look at their medical needs. We watch for fear, anxiety, and stress. And if the animal is struggling, we adjust. They get time to decompress. They get a custom plan based on their unique needs. They get people who are paying attention and responding with love and support.”

Michelle can identify and interpret what an animal is experiencing in the moment and what they need in the days ahead. That sense of right-timing and nuanced understanding helps her guide each animal’s pathway through the shelter. Some animals settle easily and move quickly toward adoption. Others need focused, sustained training, foster care, or a quieter routine before they are ready to meet families.

“We meet animals where they are,” she said. “That’s the promise we make when we bring them in. — no assumptions and no judgements. Instead, lots of unconditional love and patience.”

The Goldfield Good Dog Club

The Goldfield Good Dog Club is one of the innovative Pets In Need programs Michelle is most proud of. It was developed for large dogs who struggle with shelter stress and need a more structured support system to ensure their emotional health and successful adoption trajectory.

“These dogs need very specialized care, focused training, and ongoing behavior support,” Michelle said. “The Goldfield Good Dog Club provides that specialty training while in our care, and well beyond adoption day.”

For Michelle, the goal is simple. Keep families together.

“A dog doesn’t know how to settle into a home right away, especially a dog that needed more advanced behavior modification while in shelter. And adopters often need guidance too. The Goldfield Good Dog Club delivers intensive training and bridges the gap to life in a home, to ensure adoption stick and dogs can stay with their new families long term.”

Last year, 51 large dogs and their adopters moved through the program together. These were dogs who needed a lot of extra support, and families who needed extra reassurance and education. And their success rate is 100% — every one of those 51 love matches has been successful and lasting.

“Our Goldfield Good Dog Club saves big, rowdy, behavior dogs from the sad fate they usually suffer in shelters. It also supports the dogs’ people to create forever families,” Michelle said. “And that’s everything.”

Building Partnerships That Work

Michelle’s work extends beyond the walls of our shelter. She helps build partnerships with organizations like the Humane Society Silicon Valley that strengthen our support system for animals in need.

“HSSV is a very unique partnership,” Michelle said. “Their support with transport, health checks, and specialty placements helps us fast-track animals to the adoption pathway.”

For shelters in the Central Valley, where space is tight and options are few, collaboration means lives saved.

Jessica “JZ” Zubizarreta, Rescue and Animal Movement Manager at HSSV, sees the value clearly.

“By partnering with Pets In Need, we are able to maximize the impact we are having with our Central Valley partners, creating more placement options for animals with specialized needs and keeping kennels open where space is needed most.”

For Michelle, this means being able to help the animals who often have nowhere else to go.

A Season of Gratitude

Michelle’s behavior work, grounded in trust-building, reminds us that rescue often begins quietly. A dog at the back of a kennel. A first hesitation. Then a small moment of bravery and desire for love. Those small moments ripple outward and become second chances for thousands of animals each year.

We are grateful for Michelle and for our entire rescue and behavior team who meet every animal where they are. We are grateful for the families who foster and adopt, and for partners like HSSV who strengthen our work. And most of all, we’re grateful for the animals who remind us every day why this mission to save-lives matters. And why unconditional love is the path forward.

Every second chance begins with supporters like you. You help animals get the time they need to heal and develop confidence. You help keep families together. You help pets who have nowhere else to go.

To those who stand besides us, thank you for making this work possible.

To those ready to step in, there is a place for you here.