1970-2000
The Early Years
We've had Samoyeds for over 30 years and one has just never been quite enough! Every single one has added joy to the lives of everyone who had the good fortune to met them. In all those years, we never aspired to enter into the world of showing or titles. We had other priorities like raising human kids and career building. The whole "dog competition" experience seemed pretty distant and well...frankly....just not our thing.
However, throughout those 30 years we dedicated ourselves to becoming better Samoyed caretakers. Anyone who owns a Sam knows that they just inspire us to be better people. It comes as part of the package....along with all that white fur. We educated ourselves about what makes Samoyeds tick and the latest information on canine health. Along the way of course, we performed plenty of stupid human tricks, but God gave Sams an extra dose of patience and tolerance....good thing!
We've had our share of heartbreak, and our commitment to life with Samoyeds has been tested on several occasions. But the tough times have, themselves, proven to be gifts...they just didn't seem so at the time.
2000- 2004- Sorrow, Joy, And A Whole New World
2002 and 2003 were very difficult years for us. In July of 2002, we lost our male Solomon at just 8 years of age. Like so many people who lose their beloved pet in a surprising, tragic way, the pain of the loss of Solomon was so deep that we wondered whether we could subject ourselves to that again. But prayers led us to understand that we had much more love to offer to another Samoyed, that we had to keep going forward.
"Abraham"
Abraham Austin Wilkinson 
We obtained Abraham from the Solomon's breeder who was located on the eastern shore of Maryland. The moment we saw Abraham, as a 3-week-old puppy, we fell madly in love. Abraham reminded us so much of Solomon that it was the easiest decision in the world to bring him home when he was ready. One of the hardest things to do......was wait until that day came. Abraham was the most sensitive, shy, sweet, puppy we had ever had, and Abraham is still that same puppy, just in a bigger package.
But the loss and sorrow was to continue.
In late 2003, we knew our other precious Sammy, a 13 year-old girl Jheri, was starting her walk toward Heaven. She was a truly remarkable girl but her body was starting to break down. She had always been a strong-willed, intelligent, gentle hearted, resilient, beautiful Sammy girl who had a wonderful sense of humor. She had survived a life-threatening cyst that wrapped around her neck, recovered from bloat, and she had pack-trained all of our previous Sammy boys- Benjamin and Solomon (who had both passed before she did) and Abraham.
Before Jheri passed on to Heaven, Roy and I committed ourselves to honoring the gifts she had given us by finding the very best quality girl Sammy to walk in her pawprints. We owed that to her, and to Abraham, who was still a young tender soul. Jheri was extremely important to Abraham, and we knew he would grieve terribly until we found him a loving companion. Because Abrham's breeder had recently retired from breeding, we went to the Internet to begin our search. We had no idea what to expect, but we knew how to pray, and we knew we were on a path that would be blessed.
God delivered on all of our prayers.
Jheri gracefully passed on to Heaven on January 1, 2003. We know she is looking down on us every day. With her death came new birth, and the suffering we experiences quickly gave way to peace, grace, and eventually, joy.
We were led to a wonderful new girl very quickly. We never thought that we would find the perfect puppy so close to home. And we never could have dreamed that finding her would change our lives so significantly for the better.
Research led us to the Polar Mist Samoyed website. One conversation with Lynette Blue led not only to a perfectly magnificent puppy, but four wonderful mentors:
In early 2004, three weeks after Jheri earned her wings to Heaven, these wonderful stewards of the Samoyed breed made it possible for us to become the caretaker for a truly amazing little girl. She and Abraham were a happy pair from their first sniff. As Abraham's companion, we thought the perfect name for her would be
"Sarah"
Ch. Cot’n Pic’n
Gin Fizz O’ Polar Mist
We thought we knew what the joy of loving a Sam was like, but Sarah has proven that we didn't know the half of it! Everything about her is deeply graceful, beautiful and balanced. We are blessed to have her in our lives.
Sarah is our first "show quality" girl. To say that she has taken us to new places is an understatement! She finished her run for her conformation title quickly, and made every single show a wonderful experience for us. Sarah is the foundation for SnowAngels Samoyeds and she is the unquestioned gentle dog-leader of the SnowAngels pack. She honors Jheri every day in everything that she is, and she reminds us to give thanks to Jheri for leading us to her.
To learn more about Sarah, click here.
2005 - Addition And Surprises
With "help" from Pirate (Ch. Cot'n Pic'n Botel o Rum O Polar Mist), Sarah had her first litter in March, 2005- 4 boys and 1 girl. All 5 of the puppies were magnificent but we could only keep one...and the only girl ...chose us.
I
n keeping with Abraham and Sarah, we began searching for a good biblical name for this little girl. But....as this little gal's personality continued to form... along with holes in the back yard, knawed chair and table legs, shredded crate beds and missing shoes.....
let's just say.... that the gentile biblical womens' names just didn't quite fit this little combination of Annie Oakley and Serina Williams........so we decided on a name that connected her to the "Snow" part of "SnowAngels."
We think we chose the perfect name for this super intelligent, 1000% sweet, fun-seeking, gentle, athletic gal. We named her: 
"Flurry"
Ch. Cot'n Pic'n
Botel O' Gin Lookin' for Fun!
To learn more about Flurry, click here.
2006 - Learning, Practice and New Friends
We started to explore and prepare to participate in conformation shows. It was a year of learning and practice. We met many more wonderful, encouraging people including another steward of the Samoyed breed and (I'm proud to call a mentor), Patty McCallum of White Magic Samoyeds. We had amazing successes, especially considering our inexperience and attribute it all to our new friends and mentors, a very supportive family, and wonderful, patient, optimistic Sammies!
2007 - Joy, Friends, Fun and...Another Addition!
We continued to learn and to practice. We had many thrilling moments, including particpating in our first Samoyed Club of America National Speciality where we watched Flurry win the American Bred class (you could have knocked us over with a feather). Even the shows where we left with nothing but sore feet were fun. And thanks to professional handlers Barbara Waldkirch and Cathy Schott, along with some brilliant ;) judges and many mentors, family and friends, Sarah and Flurry both earned their titles in October, 2007. Altogether...it was a great year. But it was about to get even better. Thanks to Patty Mc Callum's belief in us, in December, 2007 we were able to become the caretakers for: 
"Halo"
Ch. White Magic's
Heart of Rock n Roll
At 10 months of age, Halo had already won both of his major conformation competitions and had 14 of the 15 points he needed for his conformation title including 2 Best of Breed wins! He earned his title at 14 months by winning Best of Winners in a 4-point major!
Halo is as beautiful and balanced inside as he is on the outside and found his place in the pack quickly and gently. Halo is a true ambassador of the breed. He loves people, and attention, and has an incredible patience and gentlemanly way about him. And he LOVES girl sammies- any and every one..... To learn more about Halo, click here.
2008- Adjustment, Loss and ...Yet Another Addition!
2008 has as a year spent learning how to manage a house with 4 (and later 5) Sams...a new level of white fur, fun, planning, logistics, exercise and volumes of food!
It has been a year of great happiness and great, deep sadness - in equal measure. First, the happy part: PUPPIES!
In May, Halo and Flurry had a successful breeding, which produced 5 fabulous puppies in July. Flurry's motherhood experience was a gift (for her and for us); the puppies were gifts as we cared for them and watched them grow into beautiful (inside and out) little fur balls; and finally, the puppies became wonderful gifts for their new owners' lives and souls. Click here to see lots of pictures of the puppies.
We lost my father, Malcolm Dutterer, suddenly and unexpectedly on September 10th. Dad lived a full and healthy life all the way up to his last moment on this Earth. To Dad, life itself was a gift. He was responsible for introducing our family to Samoyeds and he taught us that each dog has a special soul and, as caretakers, we must learn as much as we can about them, become the best possible caretakers, and share them with other people.
Dad did everything he could to support our love for Samoyeds. He built whelping boxes, puppy sat, and anything else we ever needed. We will always feel blessed to have so many wonderful memories of him holding puppies in his lap and crying tears of joy as he did so. He was a gift to this world, and all he gave to those of us who are left here will always be appreciated and honored.
Now back to happy things....PUPPIES!.....
As the puppies' personalities started to develop, they were all different, sweet, intelligent and allround wonderful. But it was clear that one of the little girls was going to be a handful. Her resilience, beauty, optimism (aka stubborness), and charm would enable her to get away with murder....and that's how we fell in love.... and decided to keep her.
Yes...crazy....we know....but it wasn't our decision :)
We named her:
"Easter"
SnowAngels Flurry's Noreaster
She has the same sparkle and impishness that her mother had at her age, combined with the sweetness and calm (every once in a while anyway) of her daddy Halo. She has inherited the confidence, intelligence, humor and beauty of all of her wonderful relatives. She's quite the girl....and we'll be bringing her out to the show ring in January.
The other puppies - Frosty, Kier, Glacier and Harmony are all enjoying their lives in the homes of arguably the best Sammy people in the world. Be sure to go to the Puppies page for more information.
To learn more about any of the SnowAngels,
just click on their names below or on the buttons at the top of any page.
