National Samoyed Rescue Board Members

The Cherished Samoyed Artwork copyright 2005 by Annie Reid

Jim Becklund
Board Chair

Greetings All,

My name is Jim Becklund and I am the current Pack Leader for National Samoyed Rescue (NSR). I’d like to take this opportunity to provide you with a little background on myself.

I am a “Baby Boomer” born in 1950 in a small mid-Michigan community. I was a member of a family of four—my mother and father and an older sister. My childhood was not graced with a dog as a family pet, but I grew up respecting and cherishing the human bond with animals.

Although I have been fascinated and in love with the Samoyed breed since I was a small child, my first didn’t come in to my life until 1987. From that point on I was hooked.

Leksi was my working dog. He was “semi good” at Obedience. He did, however excel in weight pull. He gained his W.D. and W.S. titles doing the thing he loved best.

My second Samoyed, CH. Silver Echo’s Major Motion, taught me a lot about the breed and how beautiful, regal, mischievous and stubborn they can be.

My third Samoyed, CH. Moon Bear’s Starr Gazer, was my one and only trip into the show world and my one and only journey into having produced and raised a litter of puppies. Starr was a regal lady who again taught me much about the breed.

My current Sams are (Starr daughter) Silver Rapids Taraza Moon K.T. (Katie for short) and my little rescue boy (who isn’t so little at 55 lbs) Cordy (C.B. for short).

I joined both SAMD and the Samoyed Club of America in 1988. I have proudly served the interest of our breed as a SAMD Board member, Vice President, and President. I have been a supporter of Samoyed Rescue since SAMD set up a regional rescue group in the early 1990s. As a volunteer for regional rescue groups, I have done just about everything--“gofer,” transporter, foster home, and rescue coordinator.

In the late 1990s I began to work on several projects for national Samoyed rescue. Through these projects, I realized the potential of what a national rescue organization could become and could do, and I wanted to be involved. I became an NSR Board member in late 2003 and “leader of the pack”/coordinator in January 2005 and served as Rescue Liaison to the Samoyed Club of America for two years.

My goal is to foster an ever important communication link between all members of the Samoyed Community.

I hope you can spend some time looking around our website and maybe joining us in our Forum section for discussions, learning, exploring our wonderful breed, and some fun things besides.

Marsha Hahn
Treasurer

Marsha has been owned by Samoyeds since 1980 and has been a member ot Therapy Dogs International since 1998. As the name indicates, these dogs visit various institutions, hospitals or special programs offered and act as healing agents to the people that the dogs come in contact with.

Marsha is currently involved with rescue and will help any breed to the extent that she is capable.

Sandy
Secretary

My husband and I purchased our first Samoyed in 1979. It wasn't until we purchased our first home that we also got our second Samoyed, back in 1987. At that time there were very few rescues out there so I decided to look into the possibility of starting a rescue in this local area, which ended up being the Delaware Valley Samoyed Rescue.

Over the years more rescues have been started and things are always changing, so therefore we try to go with the changes. I have been both President and Secretary for a local all-breed club, for which I am now the Show Chairperson. I have also been involved with the Delaware Valley Samoyed Club for years and our local All-Breed rescue and Owner Handler Club.

Beverley Andalora
Board Member

I met my first Samoyed when I lived in Texas, when a friendly fuzzy white dog came up to us in the alley behind our house one night. (Obviously, we were there to pet her, which we did. It was the beginning of my training as a proper Samoyed owner.) No one ever claimed her, and Sitka became our new family member. When Sitka passed to the Bridge seven years later, we didn't know how to get another Samoyed, other than finding one. While researching on the web in 2000, I discovered Samoyed rescue and have worked with San Francisco Samoyed Rescue ever since.

I served on the NSR board when it was officially formed in 2003. I took a break for a while and returned to the board in 2006.

I am currently owned by three dogs, Niku (Samoyed), Vergil (Samoyed/Borzoi mix), and Daphne (Corgi/Chow mix). We mourn the loss of our rescue Silver Sammy, Mary, in March 2007.

Pam Puckett
Board Member

Pam figured out with her first Samoyed in 1989 that the breed was super intelligent with a sense of humor. She was hooked. She has been helping Samoyed rescue in Arizona since 1997 and joining the NSR just became a natural progression for her.

She has a total of 5 dogs with three of them either being Samoyeds or high content Samoyeds. She is a software engineer by day and helped the NSR develop their new website. Pam is very excited to be a part of the NSR

Pam Hofmann
Board Member

TBD