Rebecca Guinn, Co-founder and executive director, LifeLine, Avondale Estates

Job: Co-founder and executive director, LifeLine, Avondale Estates

What I do: Rebecca Guinn, 48, has gone from defending suspects in white-collar crimes to saving lives — animals' lives, that is. The former practicing attorney traded a high-rise office with a view of the Atlanta skyline for a tiny space shared with several other people and an incontinent cat.

As executive director of LifeLine, she now runs a no-kill animal shelter that's more like a boarding kennel, alive with barking dogs eager for a walk in the neighborhood and snoozing cats resting up for their naps.

"Anything that comes into our care is safe," Guinn said. "They're here as long as they need to be here."

The animals are waiting for adoption, except for feral mother cats that are in a catch-spay-release program. Those cats are too wild to be adopted, but LifeLine makes sure they won't have any more kittens. The shelter also operates a low-cost spay/neuter clinic.

Many animals coming into the shelter need veterinary care, which they get from the staff and volunteers. Some animals do have to be euthanized, Guinn said, but never for financial or space reasons. Most spend an average of two months at the shelter, but some have been there as long as two years.

All the healthy animals are adopted or sent to other no-kill groups. "We follow that animal until it's — no, he or she; they're not 'its' — in a home," she said.

As executive director, Guinn oversees about 20 employees, four or five vets who are independent contractors and several volunteers.

The shelter also works with animals to improve their behavior so they can be adopted.

Guinn described her job as being responsible for the health of the organization and setting the policies for animal care.

Her toughest decisions, she said, are deciding how far the shelter can go to save an ill or injured animal. Heartworm is common, she said. Nearly all the animals are homeless, primarily coming from county shelters, where their outlook is grim. LifeLine staff members try to save dogs and cats they feel are adoptable. They also determine how an animal will fit in with others already in their shelter and whether there is room for new arrivals.

The shelter networks with other no-kill shelters and posts adoptable animals on its Web site, AtlantaPets.org.

She estimated that LifeLine sees about 500 animals a year. But, she noted, Atlanta area shelters take in about 130,000 dogs and cats a year, and 80,000 of those are put down.

What got me interested in this: About five years ago, Guinn found a dog entangled in barbed wire and called DeKalb County Animal Control, she said. When the dog wasn't claimed after five days, Guinn adopted it herself. That was when she realized how many animals were being killed at shelters.

She decided to form LifeLine to reduce those numbers. Within three years, she left her legal practice to work full time with the shelter.

Best part of my job: "The animals. . . . They add the most unpredictable element to the job."

Most challenging part: "The problem is overwhelming, and it's constant. We can never do enough," she said.

What people don't know about my job: "How many animals are at risk in our area," she said. "One animal is euthanized every eight minutes. That fact sparked me to get into this."

She said she didn't give up the stress and long hours of a legal practice to run the shelter — just a lawyer's pay.

What keeps me going: "I have living proof every day that I've made a difference," Guinn said. "In a lot of ways, this is a cushy job."

Preparation needed for this job: You need a sense of humor, a streak of stubbornness and the negotiating skills she got as a lawyer, Guinn said. And, to keep a nonprofit organization running, you have to be good at networking and fund-raising.

There are no license requirements for animal welfare workers, but there are certifications. Generally, however, there is very little formal structure to the industry, Guinn said.

She has a bachelor's degree in communication from Antioch College in Ohio and a law degree from Georgia State University. She worked as a graphic designer before law school and was an attorney with Maloy & Jenkins for seven years. At home, she has three dogs and a few cats.

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.