FIELD MEDIC: BECAUSE NO AMBULANCE IS COMING TO THE WOODS FOR YOUR DOG

Practical Workshop on Canine Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) with Tomasz Stępień

“A dog is the best example of a creature that believes in man more than in himself. In a crisis, this faith becomes his only salvation, but for us, it is a commitment—we must understand his silent signals of pain before he succumbs to panic.”

— Konrad Lorenz

Most dog owners live in an illusion of safety. “There’s a vet around the corner.” “My dog is careful.” But reality doesn’t care about your plans. Massive arterial bleeding can kill a dog within 3 minutes. The response time for a veterinary ambulance? Often tens of minutes. The trek from the woods back to your car? Hours.

While a helicopter or ambulance might come for a human in life-threatening danger, no public rescue service exists for a dog in difficult terrain. Mobile vet services operate in urban areas, but no one is coming for you in the forest, a ravine, or on a mountain ridge.

In that moment, YOU are your dog’s only chance of survival. YOU are the one holding your partner’s life in your hands. Not the vet. Not the ambulance. YOU.

This workshop is not about applying Band-Aids. It is about gaining competence. We are bringing procedures used by professional K9 handlers in the armed forces to the civilian sector, adapted for the needs of responsible dog owners.

Who Will Be Teaching You?

Forget “bandaging paws on plush toys.” This is Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC).

Tomasz Stępień (Project K9 Med, Poland) Founder of Project K9 Med

• Commander and Practitioner: Former commander of a police K9 unit. He didn’t read his procedures in books; he verified them in active service.
• International Qualifications: Official representative and instructor for the American organization K9 MEDIC® in Europe. He teaches TCCC and TECC (Tactical Emergency Casualty Care) standards.
• Instructor for Professionals: Regularly trains police units, prison services, army K9 handlers, and GOPR (Polish Mountain Rescue) rescuers. He is an instructor with real-world intervention experience, not just textbook knowledge.
• Expert in Psychology: A man who understands canine psychology under stress as well as the physiology of trauma.
• Teaching Style: Tomasz is known for explaining extremely demanding medical topics clearly and practically, with the necessary perspective to reduce the stress of blood and trauma. His style is direct, dynamic, and—as graduates say—”engaging even in the toughest subjects.”

What Will You Learn?

Most standard first aid courses teach the ABC (Airway-Breathing-Circulation) protocol. While great for resuscitating a drowning victim, it is fatal in trauma cases.

Based on simple statistics: The leading cause of preventable death in trauma is hemorrhage (bleeding out).

We bring you the MARCH system, the gold standard in tactical medicine worldwide.

Workshop Content:

• Safety (Muzzle First): An injured dog in pain bites—often its own owner. You will learn how to safely secure the dog so you can help it in the first place.
• M – MASSIVE HEMORRHAGE: How to stop arterial bleeding within 60 seconds. Why a “leash-improvised tie” doesn’t work and how to correctly use a certified tourniquet or the “wound packing” method.
• A – AIRWAY: How to clear the airway of an unconscious dog. Removing foreign bodies and managing choking.
• R – RESPIRATION: Chest injuries and pneumothorax—the nightmare of anyone in the woods (impalement on a branch). Solving pneumothorax using chest seals.
• C – CIRCULATION & H – HYPOTHERMIA: How to recognize onsetting shock before the dog collapses. Why hypothermia is the silent killer of trauma patients and how to prevent it.
• H – HYPOTHERMIA: Why thermal comfort is critical for blood clotting and trauma survival.

Who Is This Course For?

You don’t need to be “special ops” or have a world-champion dog. Accidents don’t discriminate.

• Everyday Owners: Dog fights in the park, collisions with cyclists, or an artery cut by broken glass. And importantly—poisoning. Whether it’s a bait thrown over the fence, antifreeze in a parking lot, or a “treat” found on a walk. You will learn when (and how) to immediately induce vomiting and when doing so would kill the dog.
• Hikers and Dogtrekkers: You move in areas where the vet is hours away. You must be able to stabilize your dog for transport.
• Sport Handlers: Injuries during protection work, agility, or coursing require immediate reaction right on the field.

Equipment (IFAK – Individual First Aid Kit)

The course includes a review of your first aid kit. We will show you why 90% of commercial dog first aid kits contain useless material and teach you how to build a functional IFAK—a small kit that actually saves lives.

WHEN: March 28, 2026 WHERE: Restaurant “U Zlaté hvězdy”, Masarykovo nám. 2, Benešov u Prahy

Format, Registration, and Pricing This workshop is designed as intensive training for handlers, not dogs. To ensure 100% safety and efficiency in teaching crisis techniques (restraint, tourniquets, handling under stress), participants attend without their own dogs.

All practical drills are performed on the specially trained service dogs of Project K9 Med (Skoll and Hati). This allows you to focus fully on the correct technique under the instructor’s supervision without managing your own pet’s reactions.

Pricing and Participation: Due to the exclusivity of the content (TCCC/TECC know-how) and limited capacity, pricing and organizational details are provided only to serious applicants.

How to Secure Your Spot: If you are interested in elevating your skills to a professional level, please fill out the non-binding inquiry form below. We will promptly send you an information package containing:

1. Price for active participation.
2. Detailed daily schedule.
3. Instructions for completing formal registration.

Capacity Note: Even though this is a handler-only event, seats are strictly limited. Each participant must practically test key skills on the instructor’s dogs. Spots are filled based on the order of completed registrations and deposits (not the inquiry form).

The workshop will be conducted in English with Czech translation.

⚠️ Warning: This is not a lecture where you sit and take notes. You will be on the ground, you will be tying knots, and you will be training. Please choose an appropriate dress code.

At TWA, we believe that fortune favors the prepared. We look forward to raising the bar of safety for our dogs together.