Lost Garden

Official Partner of Lost Garden Canine

Responsible breeding is not just about show titles—it is about physical and mental health, conscious raising, and lifelong prevention. Nikoletta Vald and Attila Vald, founders of Heavenly Emerald Kennel, have placed awareness and loving care at the center of their work from day one. Please welcome their introduction!

From an Equestrian Background to Conscious Dog Ownership

“We have always had dogs, and we always will. Animals have been an important part of my life since childhood. For nearly 30 years, I worked with horses: working with them, competing, and teaching children and adults to ride. I learned so much alongside them, so it felt natural that my relationship with animals is not just about caretaking, but also about constantly learning from each other.

With my husband, Attila, the love for dogs has always been present in our lives. My senior dog, Hádész, taught me particularly much: it was alongside him that I truly understood how crucial it is to pay attention to health, early problem detection, and prevention.

Deciding to breed was not a sudden choice. We researched many kennels, talked to breeders, and that is how we found the Welsh Corgi Pembroke breed, which we immediately fell in love with. We were primarily looking for a dog for show and breeding purposes, but I knew I also wanted to learn, train, and share experiences with her. That is how Menta arrived to us in 2023, at just 9 weeks old.

How We Discovered the Lost Garden Canine Mindset

We started attending training sessions with Menta, where we met Katinka and Balázs through our trainers—they were also participating in training with their dog, Ottó. Through them, we fell in love with the Lost Garden Canine philosophy.

We felt more and more that this was how we wanted to approach our dogs: watching them, understanding them, supporting them in becoming confident and well-balanced dogs, and preventing future musculoskeletal problems right from the start.

2024–2025: Heavenly Emerald Kennel and the First Litter

In 2024, our kennel was officially established. We are a young kennel—we still have a lot to learn, but we move forward on this path with love and responsibility. In the meantime, our dogs have achieved beautiful results in both shows and work:

Menta (Our Foundation Female)

• Titles Achieved:

  • Hungarian Junior Champion

  • Hungarian Champion

  • Hungarian Show Champion

  • Hungarian Grand Champion

• Featured Show Results:

  • 1× BIS (Best in Show) & 1× BIS Junior

  • 5× BOB (Best of Breed) | 2× BOS (Best of Opposite Sex)

  • 10× Champion CAC | 8× CAC | 2× HR CAC Best Female | 2× res. CACIB

  • 3× HPJ (Junior CAC) | 3× Best Junior

• Working Exams & Sport:

  • Passed BH Obedience Exam

  • Passed NHAT (Herding Instinct Test)

  • Ongoing work in Nose Work

Jáde (Our First Home-Bred Dog)

• Titles Achieved:

  • Hungarian Minor Puppy Grand Winner

• Featured Show Results:

  • 1× BOB (Best of Breed) | 1× BOG III (Best of Group 3rd)

  • 2× Best Junior | 6× HPJ (Junior CAC)

  • 4× Best Minor Puppy

• Working Exams & Sport:

  • Passed NHAT (Herding Instinct Test)

  • Active in Nose Work and preparing for the BH Obedience Exam

What We Stand For

We love beautiful dogs and dog shows, but it is at least as important to us that our dogs are healthy, have sound temperaments, are trainable, and remain well-balanced.

Our dogs are family members to us: they live with us, learn with us, and share our daily lives. For us, breeding is not just about puppies being born; it is about the life and foundations we give them.

This is our story so far. This is Heavenly Emerald.”

Nikoletta Vald & Attila Vald

Heavenly Emerald Kennel

Official Partners of Lost Garden Canine

Official Partner of Lost Garden Canine

In dog training and behavior modification, practical experience and conscious awareness are the most valuable assets. Viki Kozák and Bálint Keresztes, founders of the Kontakt Dog Training and Sports Association, guarantee professional expertise backed by nearly 25 years of intensive work and a background in veterinary health. Read their professional introduction and their shared experiences with Lost Garden Canine products below!

25 Years of Practical Experience in Dog Training

“We are Viki Kozák and Bálint Keresztes, founders and leaders of the Kontakt Dog Training and Sports Association. We established our association in 2020, building on nearly 25 years of intensive practical work, as well as our qualifications in dog training and veterinary health.”

Specializations and Professional Experience:

• One of the defining cornerstones of our professional approach comes from roughly fifteen years of work with powerful, bull-type dogs. With these dogs, safe coexistence and managing group dynamics required exceptionally precise observation. We had to learn to recognize the smallest changes in body language, early signs of tension, and subtle shifts in relationships between dogs, allowing us to respond appropriately before conflicts even developed. This long period fundamentally shaped our thinking about canine behavior and communication.

• Viki’s experience with wild animals further deepened our sensitivity to non-verbal communication, distance-increasing signals, stress reactions, and minute behavioral changes. In our work, we do not merely observe individual behaviors, but also the precursors and connections through which the expected outcome of a situation can be recognized early on.

• Another important area of our experience is animal welfare rehabilitation and the reintegration of dogs with behavioral issues into family environments. This is based on a detailed analysis of the dog’s behavior, understanding the underlying causes and motivations, and then consciously guiding that behavior. Our goal is to enable the dog to function safely, predictably, and in a manageable way for the family within a new or changed environment.

• In our association, we collaborate with dog trainers, therapy dog handlers, police detection dog trainers, instructors, and other supporting professionals. We also share our professional experience through lectures, children’s programs, and camp activities to ensure that responsible dog ownership and a true understanding of dog behavior reach as broad an audience as possible.

• Alongside our wide-ranging training and development work, a key specialty of ours is scent work based on dogs’ olfaction and the instruction of nosework sports. From accessible search tasks and competitions for pet owners to higher-level, regulated competition systems and real-life detection work, we cover training, preparation, and professional development.

“The foundation of our approach is simple: we believe in practice. For us, true professional expertise comes from continuous observation, consistent work, and verifiable results.”

How Our Relationship with Lost Garden Canine Was Born

We met Katinka Vendler-Simon, the developer-owner of Lost Garden Canine products, during the training of her dog, Ottó. Over time, this professional connection turned into a friendship, and subsequently, a close collaboration.

During the development of the products, we consulted extensively with Katinka and shared our experiences gained from working with dogs of various ages, workloads, and backgrounds. We participated in practical testing among prospective product users and supported the development process with insights and feedback from dog owners, athletes, and our own dogs.

Why We Use and Recommend These Products

We use Lost Garden Canine products in the daily joint support of our own young, actively competing, and senior dogs. We didn’t just come across a pre-packaged product line: we witnessed up close the developer mindset behind it, the continuous professional consultation, the practical testing, and the fact that feedback was genuinely integrated into the development.

Our acquaintance became a friendship, but friendship alone is not a professional endorsement for us. To stand behind a product, we must know the development process, the professional rationale behind the formulation, and the practical results.

We consider Lost Garden Canine products to be professionally well-thought-out, consistently developed, and truly professional. We whole-heartedly represent a system that we know firsthand, use daily, and trust as professionally authentic.

Viki Kozák and Bálint Keresztes

Kontakt Dog Training and Sports Association

Official Partners of Lost Garden Canine