Andrea C. Kelly, President and Treasurer
Andrea Kelly has been involved in the Bullmastiff breed since 1990, and specifically with rescue since 1995. Until the formation of Bullmastiff Rescuers, Inc., she was the Regional Coordinator for the Rescue Service of The American Bullmastiff Association, responsible for New Jersey, southern New York State, the five boroughs of New York City, and Long Island, the eastern half of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. She has spearheaded fundraising efforts, and worked diligently to develop and nurture relationships with municipal and private shelters in this area, as well as with other rescue groups. Under her guidance, the ABA rescue group was one of the first accepted and approved by the NYC Mayor’s Alliance for Animals, and she has maintained a close working relationship with that organization. As regional Coordinator, she oversaw the acceptance, foster care, and evaluation of 100+ Bullmastiffs annually, and coordinated their vet care and ultimate placement with their adoptive families.
As a Bullmastiff owner and breeder, Ms. Kelly has owned, bred, and/or personally trained several history-making dogs. Her pets not only compete in the conformation ring, they are active and successful competitors in agility, obedience and rally, some have worked as therapy dogs, others have expanded their skills to include water work and sheepherding. Several have appeared in TV commercials and/or print advertisements, and several have been featured in training books and videos as well. Ms. Kelly is an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and has judged sweepstakes at a number of regional specialties across the country. She has co-chaired national specialties and regional specialties on several occasions. She has long-standing relationships with local vets and has worked hard to obtain premium vet care at discounted rates for rescue dogs, not only from “general practitioners” but from board certified specialists as well. Because of her presence in the “working arenas”, she has access to many well-regarded trainers and behaviorists too, so there are many professionals she can call upon for help and advice in the event of a medical, training, or temperament problem with a dog in the care of our rescue organization.
Prior to moving to a small horse farm in New Jersey to pursue an equestrian lifestyle, Ms. Kelly was a Vice President in the Institutional Money Management area of US Trust, and before that she was a Vice President and institutional portfolio manager at the private investment firm of Scudder, Stevens & Clark. In each of these positions, she was responsible for devising and executing investment strategies for institutional portfolios worth several billion dollars.
As a Bullmastiff owner and breeder, Ms. Kelly has owned, bred, and/or personally trained several history-making dogs. Her pets not only compete in the conformation ring, they are active and successful competitors in agility, obedience and rally, some have worked as therapy dogs, others have expanded their skills to include water work and sheepherding. Several have appeared in TV commercials and/or print advertisements, and several have been featured in training books and videos as well. Ms. Kelly is an AKC Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and has judged sweepstakes at a number of regional specialties across the country. She has co-chaired national specialties and regional specialties on several occasions. She has long-standing relationships with local vets and has worked hard to obtain premium vet care at discounted rates for rescue dogs, not only from “general practitioners” but from board certified specialists as well. Because of her presence in the “working arenas”, she has access to many well-regarded trainers and behaviorists too, so there are many professionals she can call upon for help and advice in the event of a medical, training, or temperament problem with a dog in the care of our rescue organization.
Prior to moving to a small horse farm in New Jersey to pursue an equestrian lifestyle, Ms. Kelly was a Vice President in the Institutional Money Management area of US Trust, and before that she was a Vice President and institutional portfolio manager at the private investment firm of Scudder, Stevens & Clark. In each of these positions, she was responsible for devising and executing investment strategies for institutional portfolios worth several billion dollars.
Joan (Joni) Cavanaugh, Vice President
Joni’s love of the bullmastiff breed stems from owning her first bullmastiff Dasher. After thoroughly researching the breed to determine suitability to her lifestyle and researching breeders in the state of Michigan, she purchased Dasher in 1996 from a reputable breeder. Joni was quickly and forever enamored with the breed. Two months after Dasher’s death due to complications with diabetes in 2004, she adopted her first rescue bullmastiff Shadow from Andrea Kelly. Shadow was rescued from an abandoned car in New Jersey and Joni drove from Michigan to New Jersey to adopt her. Shortly thereafter, Joni became actively involved in rescue and has fostered over 70 dogs in her own home in addition to serving as Great Lakes Regional Coordinator for two bullmastiff rescue organizations.
As Great Lakes Regional Coordinator, she is responsible for the processing and approval of all adoption applications; coordinating the intake and foster placement of dogs coming into rescue from owner surrender situations or shelters; monitoring veterinary care of dogs in rescue and placement of dogs ready for adoption into appropriate home environments. Through her coordination efforts she has helped saved the lives of well over 400 bullmastiffs by locating appropriate foster homes for them, coordinating transport plans to get them safety or to their adoptive homes, screening potential adopters, and provide countless hours of guidance to adopters.
In addition to her rescue activities to rehabilitate and rehome bullmastiffs in need, Joni also donates her time to transporting for The Liberty Train, all volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing, transporting and re-homing animals in need. The Liberty Train works with a network of individuals to pull animals from high-kill shelters and transport and place animals with responsible, fully screened rescue groups.
As Great Lakes Regional Coordinator, she is responsible for the processing and approval of all adoption applications; coordinating the intake and foster placement of dogs coming into rescue from owner surrender situations or shelters; monitoring veterinary care of dogs in rescue and placement of dogs ready for adoption into appropriate home environments. Through her coordination efforts she has helped saved the lives of well over 400 bullmastiffs by locating appropriate foster homes for them, coordinating transport plans to get them safety or to their adoptive homes, screening potential adopters, and provide countless hours of guidance to adopters.
In addition to her rescue activities to rehabilitate and rehome bullmastiffs in need, Joni also donates her time to transporting for The Liberty Train, all volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing, transporting and re-homing animals in need. The Liberty Train works with a network of individuals to pull animals from high-kill shelters and transport and place animals with responsible, fully screened rescue groups.
Laura Going Burke, Secretary
Laura Burke has been involved in dog rescue for more than 10 years, when she became a volunteer with Corridor Rescue in Houston, TX. After moving to Pennsylvania and purchasing her home, Laura began fostering a number of large, molosser breeds, finally fulfilling her dream of owning one of these magnificent dogs when she adopted Willow from BRI in 2022. Laura’s approach to training, behavior assessment, and vast knowledge of ways to change or manage undesirable behaviors, is closely in line with what Andrea and I feel is important for this breed we love so much. Though not certified, Laura has been training dogs for more than 20 years and feels a close personal connection with dogs experiencing anxiety and reactivity. She focuses on the removal of barriers to desirable behaviors and a relationship-based approach to behavior modification. Laura also works with other large-breed rescues as a foster, transporter, or just taking on whatever needs done and has fostered more than 15 dogs in the last 3 years.
Nicole Conover, Managing Director
Nicole Conover brought home her first Bullmastiff, Stevie Ray, in 1999 after a long search for a giant breed companion. Stevie was also the dog that would introduce her to the rewarding world of dog training. Through the years, Nicole has worked with various breeds, the majority of which were giant breed dogs. For the past 10 years she has volunteered with BRI and other giant breed rescues doing transports, fostering, networking, educating, and advising on behavioral modification when needed. She also serves as BRI’s Midwest Coordinator. Nicole has over 24 years of experience working with and training dogs. She strongly believes that successful behavior modification is based in building a relationship of trust and mutual respect between a dog and its handler. After welcoming her own ASD child in 2007, Nicole began working with special needs children who had various ASD and SPD diagnoses. She soon realized the same approach and many of the tools used to help and connect with these children could successfully be implemented in helping dogs experiencing severe anxiety, unfounded fears, and storm phobia as well. She has a passion for both these unique children and special dogs and one day hopes to be able to bring both of these passions together in a way that is mutually beneficial to both.
Julie Renner, Managing Director
Julie rescued her first bullmastiff in 2004 and fell in love with the breed. She became involved with BRI in 2017 when she lost her last bullmastiff. She adopted her first girl Midge from BRI and within 2 weeks she added a second to the house, Ollie. Julie started her volunteering with BRI as a transporter and then stepped into fostering. Julie has transported and fostered many BRI dogs. In addition she will temporarily foster dogs while they get medical care at a vet that is willing to work with our rescue to ensure our fosters receive the best medical care at a discounted rated. Julie is a Registered Nurse, she will assist the BRI board and fosters by using her medical background to make sound decisions on medical care for BRI dogs while in foster care.
