It is official! We have a new board! The past few years the board has been hard at work laying the foundation and last year we had one of our most promising years yet. We overhauled our website, we brought back the Encourager trials and our classifieds, added new features like our forum and our resource listings, ramped up our educational opportunities and added a few opportunities for food and fun as well. We had a very long wish list and we are proud to say we checked a lot of boxes! We had a fantastic team working away and leading the charge was Dave Viklund. We have so much to thank him for this past year and he will be missed as our President. If you like what we did, make sure to tell him hello and "thank you" the next time you see him around. Luckily he will still be around as our Past President so his work is not done yet! We did say farewell to last years Past President, Amelia Smith. The support and commitment she brought to the organization was invaluable and we owe her a huge thanks for the opportunities she brought to our organization and our community. We will miss her and look forward to seeing her out in the fields. That being said, there is a new sheriff in town and ushering in a new chapter is our new President, Maggie Yates!
Maggie is bringing to the table her heart and her passion and she is ready for the job! If you have been to any of our events you will recognize her smile and her sense of humor. She is always there and willing to lend a hand. She is game for just about anything and she likes to have fun.
Welcome your new President, Ms. Maggie Yates!
Name: Maggie Yates
Dogs: Reka (4) & Nella (1)
Nicknames
Reka: PapReka/CostaReka/Ricola (like the cough drop – you have to say it like they do on the commercial)
Nella: Nelly Belly Button
How did I choose my dogs?
Reka – I saw a video of a dog imported from Wales and loved what I saw. I feel SO lucky to have her. She’s so much more than a nice little sheepdog. I love her beyond reason.
Nella – I happened to be chatting with Paddy Fanning on a training question and asked if he had or happened to know of any litters. His Jim dog had just had a litter with a bitch with a fabulous pedigree - next thing you know I welcomed the naughtiest Irish pup EVER into my home.
Describe my dogs in three words: Reka – Perfect.For.Me
Nella – Naughty/Charming/Talented
Favorite thing about trialing – The herding community is awesome. We all cheer for one another regardless of how we did because we know just how difficult herding really is. AND – you can’t talk about bloody diarrhea with non-dog people!
My biggest Challenge: I tend to have long conversations inside my head rather than keeping it simple. Was it a proper flank? No? Then lie down and start over. But that’s not what I do – I will have a conversation with myself about WHY it wasn’t good enough or the REASON it wasn’t good enough. I need to keep it simple.
The best herding advice given to me: Be on offense, not on defense.
What am I most looking forward to in 2024 regarding OSDS? Continuing to grow OSDS in order to build a great and supportive herding community. It’s my hope that we can continue to offer amazing learning opportunities and well as to provide many chances to train and have fun with our dogs.
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