Volunteer of the Year 2014
AKKNR Board of Directors would like to congratulate our 2014 Volunteer of the Year recipient, Deb Grymkoski for her outstanding volunteer work.
From Deb:
I have been RC for AKKNR for several years now, and have never seen any "action" in my territory...until last year! 2014 seemed to be the Year of Colorado for AKK rescues. My first rescue actually started in late 2013. I was contacted by somebody who said that they had a male AKK, Miko, who had bitten somebody. They were going to try to keep him, but were concerned about liability. They kept him through the holidays, where he supposedly bit somebody once again. They tried to re-home him with a friend, but called me within weeks saying they were ready to give him up. Since Miko had a bite history, my husband and I thought as long as he fit in with our pack, it might be better just to keep him ourselves to avoid any issues. We picked him up in January and he has been a very good addition to our pack. He can be "nippy" when he gets excited, but we are working with him to extinguish that behavior. He is a bit bossy with our White German Shepard, Lilli, but otherwise has fit in well.
My second rescue also had a back history from earlier. Around the same time we were getting Miko, somebody called me about 2 dogs in New Mexico that they were thinking about giving up to AKKNR. Soon after, however, they said they had found a great home in Colorado who was going to take both mother and daughter. Fast forward about 6 months and I got a call from the new owners saying they were having behavior issues and were considering giving up one or both of the dogs. When we met them at their home, Cloudy (the daughter), came to greet us at the door (she is very friendly - an unusual trait for the AKK!), then proceeded to jump up and walk across the kitchen table!!! This young family with several children were unprepared for the whirlwind they called Cloudy, and she was getting into everything, chewing and having accidents. They decided to keep Mika, the mom, to see if she would be better behaved without her daughter. I did not intend to keep Cloudy, however, my husband fell head over heels and would not let me adopt her out, so we ended up with our second adoption of the year! Cloudy (with a chance of rain - as we like to call her) is a very sweet girl with some manageable behavior problems, but besides a few chewed up socks and towels, she has been a pretty good girl. Her and Miko are the same age (5), so it is good to have a few youngsters in our pack again.
As if that weren't enough, I had a third "rescue" in September. A shelter up in Golden called me and said they had a little female AKK who they called Kitty because of her love of kittens, but was terrified of people. With Leah Ann's help and the magic of Facebook, we located her owner and she was returned. A few months later I learned that she had been placed in a home with an older gentleman who just adored her, and was working to get her more comfortable with people. He told me he would do whatever it takes to make her less anxious, and he loved her no matter what.
Three happy endings in 2014! I am so happy to be a part of this great organization, and glad that I was able to help out this past year. We all hope that we never have to do our "jobs", but when the need arises, we jump in to do whatever it takes to make sure these babies find their forever homes. I'm happy that Miko and Cloudy will be part of our pack forever!