The people behind Playing Again Sams

Maria Kirylo and her adopted sams, Albert Einstein and Knika

I never knew what a sam was until we "accidentally" adopted one in l992. Albert was 3 1/2 years old and he started my obsession with the breed. He was also my first dog as an adult and i never knew what a dog person was lurking in my middle aged body. I went from not knowing the breed to wanting to save them all. On a wing and a prayer, I placed my first samoyed, an owner give-up, in January of 1997. That first year was so hard. But this year, I've had the help of some very special people, Joslyn Seefeldt and Marie Schulte in Madison, and Carrie and Jim Seubert in Neenah. Though the work has intensified, spread among so many, it has been less of a burden. My special thanks to John Perkins - the webmaster - for his computer skills and who also has adopted a wonderful companion through Playing Again Sams.

Joslyn Seefeldt

Joslyn Seefeld, Marie Schulte with Sobaka, and Maria Kirylo with Knika

Beth and Brian

Beth and Brian, foster home extraordinaire. Pictured with foster dog Bear (aka Mawson) before he flew to to Maryland in February 1999. In the background, the Maria's dogmobile with personalized license plates.

Todd and Sandy Orthmann torthman@kennedy.wausau.k12.wi.us

My samoyed gurus. Todd is my groomer extraordinaire, and Sandy is my good friend and moral support.

I do have to say that no matter how well you discipline sammies, or how careful you are to sammy proof your home they still have a penchant for finding something they shouldn't have or doing something we would rather not have them do. This is one of the things that makes them so much more interesting than many other breeds. I look at them as being about the same as perpetual 2 or 3 year old children. Always curious, always testing, always wanting to learn new things, always trying to be funny, always entertaining and responding to loving discipline but immediately forgetting and forgiving. Then ready to go back and do the same things testing us just to see what our response will be. I find that a large part of the fun of Sammy relationships.

John Perkins - web master

John and Ice

I grew up with samoyeds--two of them while I was growing up: Tanya, who we got around 1975, and Samantha (or "Sam"), who came along in 1984. They were both wonderful dogs, even though they were very different in personality.

After buying a house a few years back with a fenced backyard, I went looking for a dog of my own. My first dog was Bear, just under 2 years old at the time. Bear recently passed on, though.

A few weeks before Bear died, Ice came into rescue care. I adopted him about a month after Bear's death.