There is no such platform anywhere else in Central Europe. And this is not advertising — it's about the numbers, the people, and a programme that has changed this year.
What has changed compared to last year's edition
After the first edition of CERBERUS K9 we collected feedback from the participants. From police handlers, from military operators, from civilians. We listened. We drew conclusions. And we rebuilt the K9 Defence module from the ground up.
The most important change: quality per repetition. Every participant is to perform many more repetitions over the course of the day, but each one must be substantive and high-quality — with a proper decoy, with a proper scenario, with proper correction. That is why we expanded the team:
- 11 decoys — no downtime, every K9 pair has access to the best in the industry
- 6 group leaders — direct technical correction during the exercise, not after
- 2 training groups divided into smaller subgroups working in parallel — shorter queues, more repetitions per day
- A maximum of 60 dogs — a hard limit we will not exceed even at the cost of registration
All of this so that the dog comes home with a real gain in competence, not with a photo with the decoy.
11 decoys from 7 countries — who you'll put across from your dog
A decoy is not a person with a sleeve. It is a person who decides in 0.5 seconds whether your months of training have worked. That's why every one of those listed below is here for a separate, specific reason.
🇺🇸 Pete Schnurrer — Decoy and Ambassador of CERBERUS K9 in the USA. Founder of Valhall K9 International, former United States Army scout and combat veteran of operations in Iraq. Provides service dogs and comprehensive training programmes for the US Department of War, US Department of Homeland Security, US Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as SWAT units and state services. CPDT-KA certified, member of APA Helper and KNPV, holds §11 and §7 permits under the German Animal Welfare Act (commercial training and detection of live explosives). He is one of the highest-qualified K9 operators from the USA ever to appear on the Polish training scene.
🇳🇱 Emiel Kessels — over 30 years of training, raised within the Dutch KNPV. Today he trains dogs for police, military, SWAT units and special forces around the world. Specialty: defence and attack training, grip strength, the dog's self-confidence in high-risk conditions.
🇧🇪 Ruben Smet — Event Ambassador. 20 years of experience, works with police and military across Europe. Combines technical precision with deep reading of the dog. Demanding, fair, extraordinarily dynamic in his work.
🇭🇺 Attila 'Patás' Kis — 25 years in the Hungarian Prison Service, 18 years in training, 20 years with service dogs. Specialty: defence line. Multi-time decoy at international service-dog competitions.
🇵🇱 Denis Sidarowicz — IGP FCI decoy, veteran of the Belarusian and Russian rings. He has also worked on training projects for security dogs in Las Vegas. Technique, composure and dog feel in one package.
🇵🇱 Piotr Maksym — Decoy in French Ring NIV II, handler of a PT-category service dog. He works with service dogs of Polish Special Forces and foreign units. Style: precision, pressure, full control.
🇨🇿 Tom Bol — Certified Class I decoy of the Moravian-Silesian Kennel Union. Since 2015 he has cooperated with the K-9 Training Center on preparing service dogs for the police in Seattle, USA.
🇸🇰 Marian Ninčák — over 30 years of experience. Former prison-service dog handler, currently dog handler of the intervention unit of the Municipal Police in Košice. Founder and president of the N'K9 Ninos association.
🇭🇺 Peti Kolerics — internationally recognised decoy with nearly 30 years of service. Famous for realistic, dynamic and extreme scenarios — exactly those that prepare a dog for real service action.
🇨🇿 Radek Koza — Decoy of European calibre, coming from the Czech service environment. Dynamic, creative, unpredictable in action. Energy that cannot be faked.
🇭🇺 Balázs Pfeiffer — Former service-dog handler at Sopronkőhida prison. Winner of the prestigious Protection Dog Race Hungary, multiple medalist in national and international competitions.
6 group leaders — from the Polish, Slovak and Czech bloodstream of the special forces
A group leader is the one who stands beside you during the exercise and corrects technique in real time. This year we are putting six practitioners from the absolute top at the participants' disposal.
🇵🇱 Robert 'LOPEZ' Kopyto — Founder of SOF K9 Lubliniec. Former operator of the Military Unit of Commandos. Handler of the first combat dog in the history of JWK. Seven-time participant of combat missions, including twice as a combat-dog handler in Afghanistan. Graduate of NePoPo® New Silver School (Michael and Bart Bellon) and NePoPo® New Gold School (Hans Verbruggen).
🇵🇱 Paweł 'DOMEL' Domański — Former special forces operator, combat-dog handler, veteran of six foreign missions. Knight of the Order of the Military Cross for participation in a hostage-rescue operation. Decorated with the Cross with Swords. Laureate of the "Buzdygan" award from Polska Zbrojna magazine for the development of K9 systems in the Polish Army.
🇵🇱 Dawid 'COLIN' Piotrowski — Active-duty soldier, 15 years of service. Instructor of combat and sport shooting, certified Level I decoy of the Polish Armed Forces. Trainer of working dogs. Founder of COLIN Canine & Arms — a project built on real operational experience.
🇵🇱 Szymon Jackiewicz — Retired officer of the special unit of the Border Guard, operator with combat experience with a dog. Judge of service-dog competitions. Organiser of "Battle at Gladiator's" and the Polish-Lithuanian "Defence of the Suwałki Gap" training events. Creator of the Gladiator centre.
🇸🇰 Jozef Hramec — Ambassador of CERBERUS K9 in Slovakia. 33 years of cynology. Four-time participant of the IPOR World Championships (positions: 3, 11, 17, 19). 400+ searches for missing persons, rescue missions after earthquakes in Türkiye (×2), Taiwan and Iran. Runs the Slovakia–USA Police K9 Exchange Programme, prepared 15 dogs for K9 and SWAT units of American police.
🇨🇿 Lád'a Srnec — Ambassador of CERBERUS K9 in the Czech Republic. Over 40 years of training service dogs. Former airborne and special forces soldier. For over a decade a field-dog handler of the Czech Republic Police and member of the prevention unit. Tactics, marksmanship, medicine and cynology — in one person.
Eight scenarios. Each one really used by the services.
These are not exercises "for show". Each of these scenarios is an element that actually functions in special units, counter-terrorist police and personal-protection services. After the first edition we threw out everything that was a show. We left what is most important for quality and saves lives.
1. Tactical entry — dynamic entry, room search, apprehension of an aggressor, action inside tight buildings, control of the dog under pressure.
2. Manhunt — sector search, pursuit operations, locating a threat, reaction to a hidden attack, dynamic apprehension.
3. Hostage rescue — isolation of the aggressor, securing the zone, intervention entry, evacuation of the person at risk.
4. Black corridor — smoke-filled rooms, darkened corridors, noise and disorientation, work of the dog in difficult conditions.
5. Security corridor — movement in a crowd, reaction to provocation, cover of the protected person, action on the move, repelling aggression.
6. Crowd evacuation — securing exits, crowd control, isolation of aggressors, action in noise and chaos, protection of bystanders.
7. Aggressor in the crowd — threat selection, action among civilians, fast apprehension of the aggressor, control of the surroundings, work under stimulus pressure.
8. Zone protection — patrolling the sector, control of entrances, reaction to intrusion, apprehension of the aggressor, maintaining zone security.
Each of these elements comes from real doctrines. Each one is led by people who used them in service — not who read about them.
Civilians shoulder to shoulder with services — this is the heart of it
In Poland there is no other place where a civilian dog handler can, on the same day, in the same location, with the same decoy, train the same scenario as a handler from a police counter-terrorist group or an operator of JSPEC from Portugal.
Nowhere else will you do this for any amount of money. There is no civilian course that would give you access to this team, this equipment, this infrastructure — 3MK Arena, the Municipal Stadium, a closed uniformed school, active ORLEN infrastructure, OSIR Piaski-Szczygliczka — five locations made available specifically for these two days.
If you work with a dog — this is the only event of the year that will really raise your level. If you are a service handler — you get access to techniques your unit does not train. If you are an instructor — you receive mentoring from 11 decoys and 6 group leaders, each with years of operational work behind them.
Limit of 60 dogs. No exceptions.
The hard limit is not marketing. It is a quality requirement. Above 60 K9 pairs we cannot guarantee that every participant will get as many repetitions as they need and as much technical correction as they deserve. That is why once registration closes, you will lose your chance.
K9 Defence ticket: 800 PLN for two days of intensive training with the best in Europe. Don't calculate it as a cost. Calculate it as the only opportunity of the year for your dog to go through the hands of a team you will not gather anywhere else.
Registration: tickets.pactak9.org
13–14 June 2026, Ostrów Wielkopolski. See you there.