About The Board
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The Dickinson Pet Expo crew is made up of some incredible dogs, and their HuMoms. The humans do most of the work, but the dogs make it worth it.
So who is behind this pet expo business anyhow? Let’s Meet The Board! |
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Stefanie Aulner and The Royal Court
Madame Miranda is our founder. She is a Borzoi, which is just a fancy word for “ruler of all”. Miranda is a champion show dog, a certified therapy dog and loves to run FastCat when she’s not busy ruling her kingdom. Her long snoot is perfect for demanding pettings. Rumor has it she will make an appearance at the expo demanding kisses from her admirers. Mooch and Ozzy are two of her favorite minions. They are Glen of Imaal Terriers, a father and son duo who are also grand champion show dogs (they have been to Westminster!). Mooch loves to show off his many tricks and run fastcat when Madame isn’t hogging all the attention. Ozzy likes to pee on things and has a passion for using his nose to search for things. Both love paddle boarding with their HuMom and naps. Last but not least for our founding family is HuMom Stefanie Aulner. Stefanie’s hobbies include dutifully taking Madame Miranda to visit the elderly folks, practicing FastCAT, dog training, videography, history and paddle boarding. All of these hobbies include her dogs of course. She is a member of the Bismarck Kennel Club, our host club for the South West North Dakota's First Ever FastCAT - Kick off to the North Dakota FastCAT Triple Crown. This whole thing was her idea so give her a big round of applause for bringing something fun and dog friendly to Dickinson!! Goooo Stef! 
Seri J Dukart and The Corgi Outlaws!
Seri is owned by an ever fluctuating number of random corgis. Currently The Corgi Outlaws consists of Luke Short, Gunplay Maxwell (Maxx) and Poker Alice. Luke and Maxx are cardigan corgis and Alice is a fluffy pembroke corgi. Mango is technically a tortoise but thinks he’s a corgi. Seri owns The Grooming Gallery and Creature Care Cards and is a huge lover of pets of all sorts. She has many (many) reptiles, birds, fish, frogs, spiders etc and loves doing reptile outreach for kids and adults to help them get over their fears. Her hobbies include kayaking, collecting plants, adventuring with her dogs and artsy stuff. She is also deaf and you will often see her with her service dog, Maxx the Hearing Alert Cardigan Corgi. Look for their booth at the expo educating on service dogs. Seri does most of the social media, website and commercial arts stuff for the expo! Reach out to her if you are interested in vending, sponsoring or donating prizes
The Mismatch Mutts and Tasha Hermanson!
Lucy the hyena, Boomer the beagle-ish, Sigyn the old lady and Nova the puppy help Tasha run her pet store, Woofta Pet Shop and wrangle all the various pets that come into our local rescue Bakken Paws. When Tasha isn’t saving some random number of pets in need, she’s listening to old school rock and hip hop, which just automatically makes her cool. She has a love of hoodies, crazy road trips and caribou coffee. 
Missi Baranko the Dog Grandma
Missi insisted she’s just behind the scenes, but I said too bad so sad, you are a huge part of making this event a success! Missi and Neveah are the ones making the 4-H show portion of the expo an amazing event. Missi Baranko is a proud mom of four daughters, a soon-to-be grandma, and a devoted “grand-dog mom” to Maya, Buko, Izzy, Shiny—and one more pup on the way! As the Executive Director of USpireND, Missi channels her deep passion for early childhood development and home visiting into meaningful work that supports children and families across North Dakota. Her love for animals runs deep—she once considered becoming a vet tech—and she’s grateful to stay connected to that passion by living on a ranch and also supporting the Plum Creek Paws 4-H group. With all of her kids having grown up in 4-H, it’s a full-circle moment to now give back to a program that played a big role in their lives. 
Buko, Maya, Hopak and Neveah Baranko!
Maya, a Border Collie mix, and Buko and Hopak, Belgian Tervuren's enjoy participating in a variety of activities with their HuMom, including agility, rally, nosework, obedience, conformation, bikejoring, canicross, disc, and more. Maya enjoys most of her time on the family farm in her element. Neveah owns Plum Creek Canines and is the founder of Plum Creek Paws, the local 4–H dog club. She dedicates a lot of time to helping kids build bonds and skills with their pets and building up their own self confidence in the process! If the activity includes dogs, Neveah is here for it. Her drive and enthusiasm is key to making this event truly fun for the whole family.
Liz Okerson and her Randomness
The Okerson household is ran by a 4 lb dustbunny with legs named Simon (sometimes called by his scientific name, the long coat chihuahua). He keeps Denver the lab/husky, Harvey the husky/lab, Katie the lab/no husky and Sally the no lab/no husky mixes in line. (Actually I don’t think any of them have husky in them but I digress…) There is also a less furry, missing two legs member of the household named Harper who helps Liz with the many temporary fosters they wrangle for Bakken Paws, who they are very involved with as volunteers. Liz has a very intense job so she fills in and helps us when she can get away from her chaos to help with our chaos!
Dawn Pruitt and a Pair of Perfectness
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