Trainers
Meet our incredible commanders - trainers! Find out their story and rely on their invaluable experience in training our assistant friends, who are eager to show their owners what they have learned.
Deimantė Dargytė – Pranckevičė
Master's student in Animal-Human Interaction at LSMU. Qualified dog trainer of the Lithuanian Cynological Society.
Deimantė has been working as a handler for the State Border Guard Service since 2015, where she works and serves together with her Belgian Shepherd Dog Koka. Together with her service dog, she participates in dog mastery competitions (1st place in 2018), canicross obstacle and restraint competitions, and has won 1st and 2nd prizes several years in a row. In 2020 he founded a dressage school and started teaching people how to train and, most importantly, understand their dogs.
Deimantė has also participated in numerous international refresher courses in the field of cynology. Dogs and their owners come to the school with a wide range of problems - lack of obedience or psychological problems - various fears, aggression, apathy, stress etc. So Deimantė specialises in dressage of problem dogs and general obedience, prepares dogs for the BH exam and IPO obedience. As Deimantė herself says, "I have lived among dogs all my life, as long as I can remember. I inherited my love for animals from my mother. I learnt about professional dressage when I started working as a VSAT handler. It was this job that brought me to the service. For 8 years I worked and trained, together with my service dog, which was not an "easy" dog, so there was no shortage of challenges". It is this dog's stubborn character that she credits for her knowledge of dogs and their training. Deimantė has trained her service dog to the highest level of readiness. 4 times top category, drug detection and tracking service dog. Winner of dog mastery competitions among service dogs and multiple champion in dog biathlons in Lithuania.
Vladas Babičevas
Vladas has been working with dogs in the State Border Guard Service for 16 years and currently also works as an instructor in the VSAT's Canine Centre. During his career Vlad has owned 3 service dogs and is a certified trainer with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex. With his service dogs he has won several prizes at the championships in Lithuania and Latvia and has 7 years of experience in the special task team.
Gabrielė Aleknaitė
Gabrielė is a canine at the Assistance Dog Centre. She excels in dog socialisation and dog behaviour analysis. Gabrielė has been involved with dogs for more than 10 years. She also has more than 6 years of experience as a private consultant working with children with developmental disabilities. She currently maintains an excellent relationship with the families she works with, helping dog owners to adapt exercises to the changing needs of the family, and training canine assistants in Special Tasks. Gabrielė is also working on the development of operational systems for the Mulan Foundation and the Assistance Dog Centre.
Lauryna Liepuonienė
Lauryna has been interested in dogs, their care and training all her life. Since 2019, she has been volunteering at the shelter "Linksmosios pėdutės", and since 2020 she began assisting the LKD trainer and in the same year she purchased a smooth-haired retriever, Runa, with whom she began her journey as a professional trainer. In 2023, the Dogs of Klaipėda training school was founded, where owners are taught how to communicate with their dogs, as well as helping to solve various behavioral problems. Lauryna trained, prepared for and participated in Rally Obedience competitions with her dog. She and Runa are also active mantrailing (human search) training enthusiasts.
Lauryna has expanded her knowledge not only by learning from an experienced LKD dog behavior specialist and trainer, but also by volunteering at a shelter, where she gained a lot of practice working with various dogs. Attending seminars, lectures, and courses is an integral part of the trainer's profession, so Lauryna is constantly improving her knowledge through training both remotely and in live meetings.