LOCAL DUO RESCUES LOST PETS
- Cindy Perman
- 2 hours ago
- 7 min read
New nonprofit All Paws In helps fur babies find their way back home
By Cindy Perman
Conover and Sandford Fishkind helped rescue Goldie, a goldendoodle, who was left in a crate in the snow in Irvington Park and adopted with the help of PAWS Montclair. Maya was found loose in Irvington. Conover and Sandford Fishkind arranged a foster for her. After the owner agreed to surrender Maya, she was adopted with the help of PAWS Montclair. Sandford Fishkind with Coconut, a Pomeranian mix, who was found running near a warehouse. He was rescued after two days and adopted by his foster family through Rosemarie’s Rescue Ranch. These kittens and their mom were rescued and are available for adoption. Photo by Julia Maloof Verderosa.
If you’ve ever been on Dogs of Soma or another local Facebook group, you know that dogs and cats sometimes – OK, often – get loose. A kid or a contractor leaves the gate open. A couple of adventurous pups take themselves on a tour of the neighborhood. Sometimes a stray dog is seen wandering around for days or even weeks, prompting concern from a kind neighbor.
“Our dog escaped the backyard and is missing. If you see her, please call!” a post might read. Or, “I saw these dogs on my way home but didn’t have time to stop. Anyone know who they belong to?”
Read enough of these posts about lost or stray animals and you’ll see two people tagged over and over again: Kelly Conover and Marcia Sandford Fishkind.
Conover and Sandford Fishkind will spring into action: gathering sightings, hopping in their cars for a stakeout, and setting traps, feeding stations and cameras. They work until a lost dog or cat is safely back home with their family. If they're stray dogs or cats, they will bring them to their house to decompress and get checked out before heading to a foster family or rescue and then, hopefully, a forever home.
“We help people find their dogs … and we help dogs who have no people,” says Sandford Fishkind, who also helps trap and transport injured foxes and rescues cats.
While South Orange and Maplewood contract Animal Control Solutions for animal control, the organization does not search for lost pets, according to the towns’ websites.
Conover and Sandford Fishkind have had pets and helped pets their entire lives. Sandford Fishkind, who lives in Short Hills, is retired from her job at a tech company in sales and devotes most of her time to helping animals. Conover, who lives in South Orange, is a psychologist who fostered pit bulls when she lived in the city. The duo met four years ago when they saw each other’s comments trying to help a lost dog in the area.
The dog was spotted running down Interstate 280. He was clocking about 10 to 15 miles a day, roaming as far afield as Berkeley Heights. Fittingly, they named him Miles. Sandford Fishkind contacted Conover and said, “Let’s go find this dog!” The two had never met in person, but Conover drove to Sandford Fishkind’s house to pick her up, unknowingly launching the beginning of their rescue partnership. Although they had a lot of experience with animals, they didn’t have much familiarity with trapping dogs on the run, so they brought in a professional trapper to help and to educate them on how to do it. Twelve days later, they captured him.
“When we found Miles, I remember saying it’s like winning the lottery … but better!” Sandford Fishkind remarks.
“It’s a rush!” Conover adds.
“We started saying, ‘We can do this!’ ” Sandford Fishkind says. “It’s a process we continue to learn.”
Now, they’re known as the go-to people to tag on local Facebook groups when a pet goes missing or a stray is spotted.
“I feel like 90 percent of the time that you see an animal or somebody posts an animal missing, they are on it, and they find them,” says Jennifer McManus, a local real-estate agent with Coldwell Banker. McManus supports Conover and Sandford Fishkind’s rescue work in a variety of ways, such as sponsoring events, sharing lost dog posters on Facebook, helping with stakeouts or just gushing over cute dogs. “They tell everybody to send in sightings, and the sightings are what help them figure it out – like the radar of the dog. It’s just insane how they know where the dogs are going to turn up after a while!”
In December, there was a case that captured everyone’s hearts on Dogs of Soma. A white pit bull had been spotted wandering alone in a tough section of Newark since October. Neighbors were afraid of her. One woman, concerned about the increasingly cold weather, finally posted about the dog on Ring, the doorbell-camera app.
Once Conover and Sandford Fishkind got the tip, they found a burned-down house where they were able to put a camera and feeding station. The nighttime stakeouts were challenging. Then their camera was stolen. But they received help from a few kind souls and eventually were able to trap her. She was not a scary pit bull but a sweet girl they named Dolly (after Conover’s grandmother), who immediately won them over! Dolly spent some time at each of their homes to decompress, went to the vet and got evaluated by a local behavioral expert they often work with, Gabriel Conover (no relation), before she went to a foster home to await her forever family.
Walter (L) and Lisa (R) are two of the many rescued cats that live at Sandford Fishkind's house. Photos by Julia Maloof Verderosa.
“Rescue depends on the passion and energy of dedicated volunteers. What sets Kelly and Marcia apart is their ability to respond to emergencies with such expertise and compassion,” says Christel
Hyden, founder of the local pet care and errands company Marigold Lifeworks. She has also served as a foster parent for stray dogs Conover and Sandford Fishkind rescued. “Whether coaching a family on how to lure a lost pet back home or watching a trap on a cold night, hoping a stray dog will let them help, they’re always all in and will not give up.”
The pair also helps rescue cats, recently assisting a couple who had found two kittens in a storm drain and visited them every day for over a month but were unable to trap them. “Together we formed Team Sewer Kittens!” says Sandford Fishkind. Eventually, after 10 days, including a
six-hour stakeout, on Valentine’s Day, they caught them. The couple who had found the kittens, adopted them, naming them Bo and Kieran.
Conover and Sandford Fishkind often fund the food and vet bills out of their own pockets. They have pets and families of their own, so it gets expensive. (At last check, Sandford Fishkind had 22 cats at her house, only half of which are hers, plus her dog!) In 2026, they formed All Paws In, a nonprofit rescue organization, to facilitate donations that allow them to rescue more animals. Donations go toward trapping supplies (traps, cameras, etc.), pet food, vet bills and other supplies.
“There is so much need in the rescue community, so our goal is to be able to continue supporting and partnering with rescues while providing resources to families and communities,” Conover said when they announced the launch of All Paws In. The group also advocates for policy changes to help support the well-being of animals in the area.
They have a very specific system for finding lost dogs: They post bright yellow signs with a photo of the dog that say: “Lost. Do Not Chase. Call this phone number with any information.” They include the neighborhood or cross streets where the dog was last seen, but they always tell people to NOT try to chase the dog. You might just spook them and send them into the street or farther away from their home.
All Paws In also has a safety checklist for owners and anyone watching your dog.
If that dreaded moment comes when your dog gets out, the best thing to do is to call the police in your town, fill out a lost report on animalcontrolsolutions.org and post on Dogs of Soma and other neighborhood Facebook pages. It should include a photo of the dog and your phone number, asking people to call or text with sightings. With 4,600 people in the Dogs of Soma Facebook group, your chances of finding leads are pretty good.
If you are the one who spots an unleashed dog or dogs running down the street, post a photo or description on Dogs of Soma and other neighborhood Facebook pages and include the neighborhood and cross streets. This does not always apply to cats. Some cats are indoor-outdoor and will eventually make their way home. (Several neighborhood cats who have homes and families have unfairly wound up in the slammer thanks to well-intentioned neighbors!) But, if you see a cat that looks like it is in trouble, post it. (There is also a Cats of MapSo Facebook group.)
Rescue is grueling work. So, why do they do it?
“It’s just this feeling, this internal feeling of empathy when you see posts of dogs wandering around. You just feel so sad for the dog and feel so much empathy,” Conover says. “And then to know that this dog is safe, like you have some control over helping this dog … This is what my soul is drawn to.”
“I just think, what a gift to have in this community. That there are people who have the biggest hearts and are willing to, for free, go out at 11:30 at night searching for these animals,” McManus says.
To learn more and support the work of All Paws In, go to allpawsinrescue.com.
Cindy Perman is a freelance writer, editor and pet sitter living in Maplewood, who will probably ask if she can pet your dog – and the cat (if he’ll allow it).
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