Join the Simon Prins ACT! community

6. August 2026

For a long time, I searched for the best way to stay connected with my students, followers, training partners, clients, and everyone who shares the same passion for detection dogs.

We all have one thing in common. We want to become better trainers. We want to learn, ask questions, share knowledge, challenge ideas, and help others grow.

Over the years, I tested almost every platform available. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Vimeo, online learning platforms, and many others. Every platform offers something valuable, but none of them offered everything I was looking for.

I wanted one place where everything could come together.

A place where I can share articles, publish online courses, announce workshops, introduce new products, explain how to use them correctly, answer questions, communicate both publicly and privately, and create dedicated groups for specific topics or professional discussions.

Most importantly, I wanted a place where people don’t have to create a Facebook account just to participate. A place where knowledge is shared because it deserves to be shared, not because it sits behind a paywall.

There is another reason why I decided to build this community.

Social media has become an incredible tool for connecting people across the world, but it can also be a difficult place to learn. Too often, discussions become competitions. People respond without reading the full story. Nuance disappears. Drama generates more attention than thoughtful conversations.

I’ve experienced this myself. I regularly publish blogs and articles about detection dog training, only to receive passive aggressive comments from people who clearly haven’t read what I wrote. Instead of exchanging ideas, the goal sometimes seems to be collecting likes or followers by creating controversy. That is simply not my style.

I don’t believe we become better trainers by trying to prove each other wrong.

I believe we become better by asking better questions. I want to build a community where asking questions is seen as a strength, not a weakness.
A community where people feel comfortable saying, “I don’t know.”
A community where beginners and professionals learn from each other with mutual respect.

We need more feedforward coaching and a inclusive mindset

If you’ve attended one of my workshops, you’ll know that I strongly believe in feed forward coaching. We don’t spend our energy judging mistakes. We help each other move forward. We coach, encourage, support, and inspire. That is exactly the culture I want this community to have.

Respect before opinions.
Curiosity before ego.
Science before assumptions.
Helping others before proving you’re right.

Life is a gift, use it

My fight with cancer over the past two years changed my perspective on many things. Fighting for my life reminded me that time is precious and that life is a gift. It also made me reflect on what I truly want to contribute to the international K9 community.

Since leaving the hospital, I’ve worked every day to rebuild my strength. I’ve spent countless hours in the gym, rebuilding my body and regaining my energy. At the same time, I completely renewed Simon Prins ACT!

My website has been redesigned.
My online store has been rebuilt.
My educational content has been reorganized.
My latest blogs and inspiring articles are organized in one place

And now, my Detection Dog Academy has become the centre of everything I do.

My website will continue to share my journey of more than thirty years working with operational dogs, technology, and science.

My online store will continue to offer only the products that I personally use, trust, and believe in. I don’t sell products because they’re popular, and I don’t do dropshipping. If it’s in my shop, it’s because I use it myself.

I’ll continue sharing ideas through social media, but the real conversations, coaching, collaboration, and learning will now take place inside the Detection Dog Academy.

Join the ACT! community, free of charge!

Thanks to the latest update on my Thinkific platform, it is finally possible to bring everything together in one professional environment. Whether you’re taking your very first steps in dog training or you’ve been working professionally for decades, you are welcome here. What you will find in this community;

Inside the community you can ask questions without fear of being judged.
Exchange ideas with trainers from around the world.
Access online courses.
Discover innovative K9 products and learn how to use them correctly.
Join specialised groups focused on specific subjects.
Stay informed about workshops, seminars, new products, and the latest developments in detection dog training.

Most importantly, you’ll become part of an international community built on respect, curiosity, science, and the desire to help each other become better.