One spring day this year, during my visit to the Czech republic I decided to address a touch by words beautiful girl, whose cynological activities I have been following for many years, in fact since she could be proud of her great pit bull GUCCI! Year after year , it seemed better and better for me in the coaching industry, so I attacked her at her training ground and interviewed her for all of you. It was a wonderful meeting, so listen to it by your eyes …
Šárka Lejdarová
age 35, I come from Podkrkonoší where I was born into a hunting family.
I currently train dogs at our training centre in Luštěnice.
Since I was 19 years old I have been involved in Bull sports with my APBT Gucci, where always were the prize-winning, we also got “Best Time” and at that time Gucci jumped a record to the height 225 cm at High Jump. Then I started to devote myself to exams with my Nikita.
Sport cynology -ZOP in year 2015 in ZKO Hostivař
-ZZO in year 2016
Therapeutic exam in year 2016 Canis therapy (Irena Bartoňová)
Hunting Cynology – ZV – aptitude test
-BZ
-BZH
-LZ
-PZ- 3rd place
-VP – 4th place
1st place in the hunting category for the Working Cup in 2016
1st place in the hunting category for the Working Cup in 2018
1st place in the hunting category for the Working Cup in 2019 -awarded by the club AST -KAST
Dog show results – Class winner, 2xCAC, Res.CAC, Club working champion of KAST
Cooperation with DogUniversal – school for dogs- dog trainer
Institute of Animal Health – Andrea Dumová – Dorn Method certificate
Working seminar- Dorn Method certificate
First Aid certificate for dogs
1) Who and what motivated you to work with dogs and in what do you see the benefits for you?
First of all it was the FAMILY. My grandfather and father were hunters. Dogs accompanied me from the time of my birth. Grandfather had a kennel “Z Krkonošských strání”, he bred jag terriers, dachshunds and Styrian coarse-haired Hound.
Dad and mom had an English and an Irish Setter, two females, which were babysitting by my pram. Later my parent had a kennel of Labrador Retrievers “ Z Hliněného vrchu”.
It means that dogs have accompanied me from a very early age, as well as working with them and all the preparations from the practicing, dog shows, etc.
On the other hand, it was and still is the dissatisfaction on my partwith dog trainings and owners.
With my dog Gucci (APBT) I was actively involved in racings – bull sports and defence for about 7 years. I took him to trainings, drills and preparations, but we (me and my dog) almost never came back home satisfied. I always missed there the tired dog = satisfied dog. This is not only about the physical fatigue, but also about the mental fatigue. So, when we came back home, I still had to do something with him by myself (laughs). With the time we went to the trainings less and mostly trained alone. We pulled the car at home together, jumped the High Jump, went running into the woods, hillsides, hills, went swimming mainly for the fitness and especially for endurance for better breathing.
My grandfather (mom´s dad) built me a lot of obstacles, made the beams, tunnel, etc. so we had our “monkey track” for fun, for jump and our own fenced part of the garden (approximately 700m2).
When Gucci and I ended the era of the professional racers after winning the BEST TIME in WEIGHT PULL SPRINT from all dogs, from all weight categories, I suddenly said “Enough”. While I was accepting the beautiful and huge cup, I announced that we leave our place to younger dogs, Gucci´s offspring, with which “dad” won´t compete, but he will watch them. It´s said in the best we should stop, and we did our best we won the best. We had our BEST TIME, Gucci had even a record at HIGH JUMP at that time, it was amazing 225cm, so I sent my dog with a great gratitude and incredible pride to dog “retire”, I was mainly leaving from the “BULL world” with a perfectly healthy, satisfied and mentally balanced dog, which lived almost to its 14 years. I always called him Legend, Mr. Dog or The Perfect Man.
I am the type of person, who always has to do something (laugh) so I got Nikita (laugh) female AST. Gucci enjoyed “retirement” with my grandmother and grandfather, drank champagne (he seriously loved champagne and prosecco, laugh) and “ate” baked meat with potato dumplings, cream sauce, tomato sauce and all the other delicacies from the hob, meantime I was thinking what to do with my new sweety. I didn’t want to do BULL SPORTS with AST, after all those years I wanted to take a little pause, also because of the health aspects of AST and their musculoskeletal system. She was having a serious puberty time (laugh) so I registered her for exams in sport cynology and went to various trainings. We passed the exams, but it wasn’t really for us, it was without the drive, the trainings were boring, when we came back home, we did the same as with Gucci, I had to make her mentally tired.
So, I said enough, it was waste of time for me, unnecessary trip and unnecessarily wasted money. I started to train on my own and later I joined Barbara Vlasáková and her DOGUNIVERSAL. My grandfather (the hunter -who already passed away) was niggling me, if I was crazy to have another “BULL” dog, that these dogs are useless for work, what I imagine doing with it (Nikita). It was another push forward, I said: don’t worry grandpa, we will show you what the useless dog can do (laugh) so we started to do hunting cynology. Lucie Kolouchová was helping us with the preparations for the exams, and I really want to thank her for everything, because from her trainings I had the tired dog = satisfied dog and thanks to her we passed all the exams and Niki was the best hunting dog of AST club (KAST) for beautiful three years. Thank you, Luci.
Hmmm from the time I live in Benátky nad Jizerou, I left trainings with Barbora from DOGUNIVERSAL after X years and have started to train by myself. I wanted to bring something new, to train in a different way, differently than in ZKO, than other trainers.
And what´s the benefit for me in it?
Damn Radek, I´m nervous, when I can´t answer immediately (laugh)
Benefit. The benefit for me is that I was able to get where I am now. Thanks to all the knowledge, experience, trainings, races, people, dogs, etc. I train and prepare dogs, correct, and change the dog’s behaviour, I give them new directions and new opportunities. I teach their owners/handlers how to understand, listen to them and how to work with them correctly. I teach them to work together, so they can enjoy the life together as partners and as a team. I teach them that even if the dog is their “darling”, “baby” they still have to be the leaders, not their dogs. I teach them to read the meaning of every wrinkle, facial expression and posture of their animals. Thanks to this journey, I got to this interview for your blog. And that’s the benefit.
2. When did you exactly know, what do you want to do with the dogs and why?
Well, basically I never knew that, and I don’t know it until this day (laugh). I would like to do everything (laugh), but I would need my “clone”, more “clones” (laugh). But I always have it this way: It must entertain both of us, me and my dog, because we are a team, we are 2 in 1, each of us is at the other end of the leash but we share that leash.
Nowadays we have many opportunities and so many different activities for dogs. Everyone must decide by themselves according to their abilities, based on the right choice, it must entertain them both and make them passionate about it. I am a “diverse” person, I like to learn new things, discover new things, new possibilities, so every time we discover something new together with my dog/partner. It must be something, that we both enjoy and has a good use.
I do “a lot” and I will do more if it´s needed (laugh). That’s my life. Everything connected to dogs, I can’t imagine my life without them, without a dog by my side. It´s the blood which circulates in my veins.
3. Have you ever wanted to stop doing anything you do? And if so, why?
This situation happened not that long time ago, it was last year, when my boyfriend and I were training in ZKO Benátky nad Jizerou. It was unpleasant experience, with unpleasant and unwilling people actually ZKO staff, we had to leave the training place in the running season and unfortunately, we didn’t have a place where we could train, where we could move all our stuff. I cried that time and told my boyfriend that I would not train anymore, the people from ZKO took away all my desire, strength, juice…. But I still had an idea in my mind: Šáry, they need you, the dogs need you.
4.How much do your clients/ dog owners, whom you help with training, guidance and coexistence with their dogs influence you?
How much do they influence me? Radek, do you have any scale? (laugh) For example from 1 to 10? (laugh) I would say number 5. They influence me halfway through, they are the owners, and their requirements, wishes and desires are important to me. For example, if they want to do sport cynology with their dog, I can´t push them into hunting one, just because I enjoyed that. But on the other side when I see some potential in the dog, so I tell the owners, in my opinion your dog is fit for this and that. And vice versa, if they want to do something with their dog, and I see that the dog doesn’t enjoy it or like it so I tell them if he would not enjoy something else. Or there is another option which I personally made with my dog Nikita-AST. Do it the way your dog likes and enjoys it. And believe me it really works! I turned one bitch (ATBT) my friend´s dog into a jumper, which enjoys jumping over everything with joy. And how her owner Janička says: “there were times, when FATED didn’t even cross the stick on the ground” I am serious Fated didn’t cross anything (stick, can, pallet, obstacle, tire). NOTHING. She laid down and we didn’t have any chance to move with her. Then they started coming to me and I said: “FATED, I will win anyway, and you will jump with the joy.”
5. What do you see as the most common problems in dog owners’ approach to themselves and subsequently to their surroundings in society?
These things are closely related, because the owners‘ problems with their dogs are actually problems related to their surroundings, therefore it´s related to the society, if they don’t keep the dog 24/7 on the chain or locked in dog kennels.
The most common problems of owners:
a) Ignorance of the breed – that means: the origin of the dog, the origin of the breed (how and from what/ from which dogs it was bred), the use of the breed (what was the breed bred for, for what purpose, for what kind of work), so in fact the whole ignorance of the breed history.
b) ignorance of the “speech” of the dog- they don´t know how to communicate with their dog, they don’t know and don’t understand the signals that their dog gives them or indicates. They don’t know what the dog expresses for example with its attitude, facial expressions, changes in the wrinkles, licking, changes in its eyes, gaze, etc. Behaviour changes are not just like that, because dogs can´t dissimulate.
c) The wrong way of solving problem situations- this is caused by the ignorance of the breed and ignorance of the dog´s natural behaviour – so then the owners react badly to the dog, poorly “punish” it and it can lead to other problems or behaviour disorders.
d) Ignorance of dog trainings/ education
-Bad socialization – socialization is an extensive topic
-Ignorance of commands – this is also related to inconsistency to commands, then the owners/handlers don´t have a “role” of the LEADERS, the dog becomes a leader. The dog is “punished” for it, which is wrong, because the dog does it right as the leader and the mistake is on the side of the person/owner/handler but unfortunately, he doesn’t know it!
-The ignorance of the training also includes so called “humanization of the dog” which is also related to leadership, respect, commands and given rules. So, then the person “unconsciously” passes the position of the leader to his dog, but again that’s not the dog´s fault.
-another big problem are FAMILY MEMBERS –>each of them “educate”/ “train” the dog, but EACH Of THEM DO IT DIFFERENTLY! Everyone calls it differently, gives different commands, they are differently consistent, one punish it for something and the other one “praises it”. And the dog has a mixture of everything in his head-> EVERYONE INCLUDED IN DOG´S TRAINING MUST BE LIKE ONE PERSON.
-wrong rewarding / praising and wrong punishment of the dog
– too many expectations from the dog -> the owner wants the dog to do everything right immediately or withing a month. “The toddler can also say a multiplier when he/she is teething, or they personally studied just for a month and got a degree.” (laugh)
Do you use a positive attitude in training or are commitment devices such as an electric collar unacceptable to you?
Ooops, thank you for this question Radek, when I just read this question about the electric collar, I´m really furious inside of me (laugh)
I have used and have trained only by the positive methods. So not only the electric collar is unacceptable to me, but also other training commitment devices, such as the Halti head collar, tightening collar and choke chain. These commitment devices can´t cross the gate of our dog training centre. And if someone used or uses it, so I inform them (the client/owner), that if they are going to use these things outside the training centre, at home or outside on walks with the dog and I find out about that by chance (for example when I meet them somewhere) then I immediately terminate “the cooperation”. If they want to use these things, they can go straight to other coaches, they´ll save my time, their time and their money. (laugh)
I prepared all my dogs and clients´ dogs on the ordinary tight collar, as well as dogs which I prepare for exams, dogs from the shelters, re-educated, aggressive dogs etc.
I personally have nothing against them, they are training aids for short-term use and they should help to solve the problems but unfortunately, they (owners/some trainers/ coaches) don´t know how to use these “training aids” correctly. Then the owners ask me for example why our Whippet (hunting breed) still pulls and chokes even when we have it on the choke chain. Actually, that’s the real problem. Or some trainers are able to give a problematic APTB the electric collar and then the owners are surprised that their dog goes against them and wants to bite them. In this case I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.
7. How does your work with dogs and therefore their owners affect your private life?
Well, I hope not in any way, except that I don´t spend weekends on the trips, etc. but in the training centre. And about my private life – I have a partner and he is a dog trainer too, he prepares dogs and their owners for Bull sports. He prepares new gladiators and new legends, so we share the training centre together. The training centre is our second home or maybe our “first home”.
8. Which of your own dogs is stuck in your mind, heart and why?
My Gucci, Lejdarova´s Gucci, my dream APBT. My dream came true I had American Pit Bull Terrier. Mr. Divine, GLADIATOR, LEGEND. It is impossible to put it into the words, how much he meant and mean to me. He was unbelievable races, partner, friend, keeper and had an unbelievable character, we were connected by our thoughts. He started to write my whole story, thanks to him I love Bull breeds, thanks to him I do what I do and thanks to him I am where I am. I thank him , that he was always by my side and will be forever.
9. What reasons lead you to reject the client?
I didn’t actually turn down any clients. I always accept everyone. But If I see that there is no progress in the dog after 3 or 4 trainings, I end up further cooperation, because it´s clear that the owner doesn´t practice with the dog at home. So unfortunately, I feel sorry for the dog, but for me it´s a waste of time, my useless interpretation that I can give to someone who wants to practice with his dog, I mean regularly practice.
People sometimes don’t understand the real meaning of the word trainer. My job is to show them how to work with their dog properly, to teach them commands, walking, emphasis, intonation, etc. to guide them in the right direction, teach them to communicate with one other, to understand their dog and to understand its speech. My work is approximately 30% of the work, the rest 70% is up to the owners, it´s up to their work, their trainings out of the training centre because I´m not there. Furthermore, I don’t like when they lie about the trainings home, I find it out anyway if they trained or not, so there must be fair play between us. They have to trust me, and I have to trust them. And they must not use the commitment devices as it´s written above.
10. You certainly have some unfulfilled goals in your life and at your work with dogs that you definitely want to achieve, which are those?
(Laugh) Ooops, Radek, I could talk about it for hours or write a book. (laugh) I am a dreamer, there are many goals I want to fulfil, but I don’t know what I want more or what I wish for more (laugh). But my biggest dream/wish is that “the Bull breeds” won´t vanish, because they still try to restrict and forbid these breeds. The main problem is that these breeds are being bought by people who knows anything about the breed and can´t work correctly with them.
These problems go to all breeds and people and unfortunately because of bad decisions we have full shelters. Examples of these bad decisions are: “parents who buy the dog to their kids and they think it´s just “a stuffed animal”, some people buy it like a roll in the market.
The people I ask why they bought the breed and they answer because I like it, but they can´t answer why the Border Collie chases cars, bicycles,….. that it doesn´t have a herd, so it created the herd for its work in the city. I would like to do seminars in the future, for people, parents, children, schools and kindergartens about what it all means to get a puppy/dog.
still a dog 