‘The Amazing Veranica’

Veranica Tchalabaeva, 14, whose stage name is “The Amazing Veranica,” works with Red, as the standard poodle leaps through a hoop at her home in Oxford, Fla. on Aug. 27, 2024. “The Amazing Veranica” appeared on the semi-final of America’s Got Talent in 2022 when she performed many tricks with her trained poodles. She also holds a Guinness World Record, earned in Milan, Italy on Feb. 9, 2023, for the most times for a dog to pass through a roller pushed by a dog in one minute, achieved by two of the trained poodles, Borika and Mishka. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.

Just imagine being on stage in California in front of Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofía Vergara, along with millions of television viewers. Or being in Milan, Italy, vying to set a Guinness World Record in a new category. Could you handle that kind of pressure?

I wager that many of us could not. But Veranica Tchalabaeva not only kept her teenage cool under extreme pressure, she led her performing troupe of five poodles to the semi-finals on “America’s Got Talent” in 2022 and earned that world record in 2023 with two of those talented canines.

The now 14-year-old from Oxford, in Sumter County, Marion’s neighbor to the south, exhibits poise and elegance far beyond her youthful years. She is an accomplished performer and polished speaker whose bond with her animals transcends the realm of reality.

Veranica comes by her talents by way of genetics, in part, as her parents, Kanat and Tatiana, were stars of the Kazakhstan State Circus as well as the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus for many years. Kanat was a gymnast for a short time, attended circus school, and was a horse trainer and trick rider. Tatiana was a professional rhythmic gymnast and member of the Kazakhstan National Team. She also was an acrobat and later joined her husband in the Cossack Riders performance team before they started their own troupe.

Kanat and Tatiana are natives of Kazakhstan, formerly a republic of the U.S.S.R., which declared independence in 1991. That also was the year the Tchalabaeva family came to America. Kanat and Tatiana’s daughters, Angelica, now 24, and Veranica, have grown up surrounded by animals. The family’s Big Top Farm today is a haven for a menagerie that includes numerous poodles, more than two dozen cats, a covey of pigeons, a herd of horses and three camels, all of which are trained performers.

“Veranica is a third-generation performer and animal trainer and presenter. She grew up surrounded by many different kinds of animals. Since she was a baby, she has traveled the United States with us,” said Tatiana.

In the beginning

About three years ago, Veranica said, her mother was supposed to be working on a show with some of their poodles, but she wound up doing it instead. She also started working with the famed poodle trainer Irina Markova, who was well known to Tatiana and Kanat.

“I was almost 11 years when I started practicing with the dogs. I had a mentor, Irina, who helped me to understand how you train dogs and from there I started practicing with them and I got to feel them better and I got to feel myself with them. So, we just kind of started making a connection with each other and I started to feel more comfortable with training them,” Veranica shared.

“It takes lots of dedication, I will tell you that for sure. I practice almost every single day with the dogs and two or three times a day, but not for too long, because they do get bored sometimes,” she added.

She said that being sure to have treats on hand is one of the crucial parts of being successful.

“Treats are one of the most important things because you have to get rewarded if you do something correctly,” she noted.

Tatiana said she and Veranica cook for the canines every day.

“We make chicken, gizzards and liver. The treat she uses is ground beef, which is usually 90% lean and above, very lean. We cook barley. They have a very good diet. They are our babies,” Tatiana noted.

The mom and daughter also handmake many of the costumes worn by the teen and her “pups.”

Among the many tricks the poodles perform are jumping rope with Veranica, doing a conga line, moving through or over a series of arches, riding/pushing a baby stroller, jumping over and through a hoop held high in the air, jumping over and running between Veranica’s feet and legs, riding scooters and a motorcycle, and much more.

Among the challenge of pulling all that off in front of a crowd is that “sometimes the dogs don’t cooperate that well.”

“They have a mind of their own and they like to be on their own schedule so sometimes we stop and then come back and try again. The reward, of course, is to show people what we’re capable of,” Veranica said.

“These dogs are incredible; Vernica does an incredible job,” said Tatiana. “They love her. They are all good kids. From morning to night, this child, we are feeding animals, we practice, we wash and clean them and, in between, she does the schooling, this kid is very hard working.”

In addition to still working with the five poodles she showcased on “America’s Got Talent,” Veranica also is starting to train younger pups.

“In the beginning, when they are puppies, we like to get them used to the props and everything, jumping over little hurdles or just sitting on their little chairs, something like that, and then once they get older, we start to do more like difficult things, like jumping over bigger obstacles,” she explained.

Hitting the big time

For her AGT performances, Veranica worked with Shurik, Rita, Roma, Borika and Mishka. Shurik is a standard poodle and the others are miniatures and toys. The four smaller ones are cousins. Veranica speaks a mixture of Russian and English as she softly issues commands to her charges. The AGT audition video shows the judges responding positively to the various tricks, especially when the poodles do some “quick change” costume swaps. Even Veranica gets in on that action, with her pretty pink dress turning lime green in one segment.

“When we were on AGT, of course it was a little bit nerve racking so right before I was about to go on stage my palms got all sweaty and the dogs could feel me getting a little bit nervous so they were kind of confused too but when we got on stage and the music started, I kind of forgot that there were people there and I just started having fun with the pups and it was just an incredible experience to perform in front of a lot of people on ‘America’s Got Talent’ in Pasadena, California,” she enthused.

Of the trip to try for the Guinness World Record, kids.guinnessworldrecords.com noted in an article by Vassiliki Bakogianni published earlier this year that the Oxford teen “flew to Milan, Italy, to attempt the record on the set of our Italian TV series “Lo Show Dei Record” in front of a large audience.”

Mishka and Borika set the record on Feb. 9, 2023, with Misha pushing a “toomba” or large barrel, with Borika running back and forth through it 41 times in one minute.

“It was an incredible experience because we’d never been to Italy. When we got the record, we were amazed and so happy for the experience that we got and it was very, very exciting. I’m the first one to hold that title,” Veranica said.

This summer, the Amazing Veranica show ran for five weeks at Stone Mountain Park outside Atlanta. She and the poodles performed three or four shows a day, six days a week, inside a theater and outside under the imposing mountainside sculptures.

She also has, according to Tatiana, performed at the Big Apple Circus, the Silver Dollar City amusement park in Branson, Missouri, on the Huckabee TV show, with Circus Wonderland in Sarasota, for special Disney World events and at basketball halftime shows.

Patience and encouragement

With Tatiana translating, the “Gazette” asked Markova her thoughts about Veranica and training animals in general.

“I was 8 years old when I started my dogs and Veranica was 11. It has become her love and passion. It takes a lot of discipline and a lot of hard work, a lot of love to the animals, a lot of encouragement. And all of that together creates an act. But people have to train themselves first, to be calm and patient, then it takes a lot of repetition and patience,” Markova offered.

Veranica, who is in ninth grade with her online school, said she may want to become a nurse later in life. For now, though, she is content to study hard and keep working with her animals.

The family, which offers horse and camel rides and teaches trick riding, hopes to soon offer performance shows at their ranch, including with the cats, pigeons and, of course, the Amazing Veranica and her poodles, which are available for private bookings as well.

“She loves to share her life with animals, which is very rewarding,” Tatiana said of her talented younger daughter.

There are numerous online videos of the Amazing Veranica, including on her own social media and YouTube channels. To learn more about the classes and performances offered by the family and Veranica, go to funanimalevents.com and amazingveranica.com