Our family did not have dogs when I was growing up, but my Aunt had a little Fox Terrier, his name was Skippy and I loved going over there to visit so I could play with him and take him out for walks. I got my first dog about 1974, a male black lab mix, his name was Makka.
In the early eighties my wife had a pet Samoyed and when he passed we decided to get two Sammy’s, we quickly got breed championships on both. We started in obedience training but didn’t get any titles, just for fun. The girl was stunning, her photo is in “The New Complete Samoyed” breed book by Bob and Dolly Ward published in1985. Crystal and Dancer lived to 12 and 14 as pets.
I was dog-less for about 20 years and a friend talked me into adopting a Corgi/Cattle dog mix she found in Franklin NC. We were to be co-owners and she wanted a Corgi and I wanted a Cattle Dog, she found the mix, so 8 week old Franklin came home with us. 
I knew about DKC from when we were showing in breed years before and I and started Franklin in puppy classes there. Franklin has completed his CGC, BN and CD, he has one leg on his RN and we are in Rally intermediate and advanced classes. He is ready to enter into open for his CDX and we are also working on utility. We have also started in scent work and he is entered in the scent work trial here in Chapel Hill. 
Durham Kennel Club members have been extremely friendly and always willing to help and the folks teaching classes are in most cases actively competing themselves, it’s a treasure trove of knowledge.