Retired corrections officer takes on canine-centric career

June 3, 2005

LYNSEA GARRISON/Frontiersman reporter

Rainey is a 3-year old Kuvasz Hungarian Flock Guard dog, 92 pounds of sheer muscle.

She eats Innova Evo, an expensive food that considers her coat. At least once a week, she gets her nails clipped and has a bath with special shampoo, after which she is air-blown dry. She plays in a big, fenced yard each day and sleeps on the couch at night.

Rainey has won Best in Breed in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show and is an American champion, an international champion and a Canadian champion in several other dog shows. She is even fed filet mignon and prime rib before a show. Rainey is considered to be a top-of-the-line dog and a champion worldwide. But behind every good dog is a good owner.

Palmer resident, Julie Volkheimer, is that owner.

Volkheimer, 43, has been around dogs most of her life. She was born in St. Paul, Minn., in 1962, and when she was six, she and her family moved to Houston and had a house full of dogs.

"My mom had poodles," she said. "But I liked collies from growing up in the 'Lassie' era, so when I was in fifth grade I bought a collie and learned how to show her."

Volkheimer said her experience as an adolescent dog shower was "short-lived," but that she continued to love dogs.

"I grew up with seven brothers," she said. "It was hard to go to dog shows when they were so far away and one of my brother's Little League games was so close."

In 1981, when Volkheimer was 19, she moved to Anchorage, and held several jobs in data entry and computer programming for various companies. In 1990, Vokheimer wanted a change of pace, and subsequently she got a job as an administrative assistant for the Department of Corrections in Anchorage. Three years later, she became a correction officer for the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward. She stayed there for four years.

"Being a clerical for the Department of Corrections got me interested in being a correction officer," she said. "I enjoyed working with fellow officers and having that camaraderie during each shift. You were like a family; you depending on each other."

Volkheimer said she wanted the job because it had more benefits than her administrative assistant positions, including better pay and retirement after 20 years, as opposed to 30. She also said she liked the work schedule.

"I would work one week of 12-hour day shifts, and then I would have one week off," she said. "The next week, I would work another week of 12-hour night shifts, and it would flip-flop like that."

After four years in Seward, Volkheimer's job took her to Cook Inlet Pre-Trial for one year. During her time there, an inmate assaulted her and she left for the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River, a facility primarily for female prisoners. She stayed there until 2001, when she transferred to the Palmer Correctional Center.

It was in Palmer that Volkheimer met her husband, Don Volkheimer. The two married in February 2002.

Volkheimer kept working at the Palmer Correctional Center until she retired in 2004. Her retirement has given her a chance to spend time with her husband and two stepchildren, 10-year-old Nancy and 7-year old Inde Volkheimer. It has also given her a chance to focus on dog showing.

During her career as a corrections officer, Volkheimer was able to own Pomeranians and was even able to show one beginning in 1998, while she was in Eagle River. That Pomeranian, Rondie, started her career with a bang as she got a Canadian championship and an international championship.

"She finished her championship very fast; I had great luck with her," Volkheimer said. "Then tragedy struck."

On Aug. 5 and 6, 1999, Volkheimer's house burned down because of an electrical fire caused by a nightlight. At that time she owned five Pomeranians.

"We lost all of our dogs," she said.

One of Volkheimer's friends, a Pomeranian breeder, was able to help Volkheimer after the fire.

"She still had great dogs, so we combined and made a partnership," Volkheimer said.

Since that time, Volkheimer has shown her Pomeranians and Kuvasz in several dog shows, about 300 total. She even showed them in the 2005 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show for the first time, where Rainey placed Best in Breed. For the future, Volkheimer plans to stick with dog showing.

"I'm learning more every day and I want to do this for awhile," she said. "I guess you could say I have the 'show bug,' as they call it."

Lynsea Garrison may be reached at 352-2250.