The Latest in the Fight Against School Shooters? Trained Dogs

Given the lack of action we’ve seen in the face of school shootings becoming an epidemic in our country, educators have been forced to get creative and come up with their own solutions to keep our children safe. There’s ALICE trainingRun Hide Fight, and even an extremely controversial idea of arming teachers. Amongst all these ideas, nothing seems to have really taken hold.

Maybe keeping trained attack dogs in schools – not exactly a new idea, but one that seems to be gaining traction – will be different.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

Real Deal Dog Training in Norco, CA, and Active Shooter K9 in Chariton, IA, are two of the companies working to train dogs.

James Greco, the head trainer for Long Island K-9, told the New York Times that “the best trained dogs have an accuracy rate of 85 to 90 percent. This sniffing ability means K-9s could help detect the tens of thousands of guns that are brought to school by students across the country each year.”

To be clear, the idea is that having trained dogs in schools could help prevent a shooting before it starts because the dogs will (hopefully) be able sniff out guns and ammo on students. It is not so much that the dogs will be able to stop a shooter who is already on the loose (although, maybe it could happen that way).

If they are successful, these dogs could mean the difference between happily boring, repetitive days at school and the nightmare that too many American kids have already experienced first-hand in recent years. At the very least, taking this step, in addition to others, could help parents and educators feel as if they’re doing something useful to prevent the loss of their children.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

In this day, when so much is so scary and uncertain, simply feeling less impotent is worth a lot.

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Don’t Put Your Keys Between Your Fingers to Defend Yourself

Hopefully you’ll never find yourself in a situation where you’d have to fight someone off, but, if you do, don’t use this method. I know a lot of people talk about it – I’ve even heard people I know say they employ this when walking to their car late at night. But for real: don’t put your keys between your fingers if you have to defend yourself.

Photo Credit: Facebook, Q108 Mornings

It looks cool and you hear about it a lot, but self-defense experts say you shouldn’t do this for a few reasons. The first is that you can injure your hand pretty badly this way. The jagged keys might cut into your hand, which will definitely make your punches less effective. You also might drop your keys this way, and, no matter if you’re by your car or your house, if you’re trying to fight someone off and you have no keys, you’re in trouble. Plus, if you do manage to get away, then your assailant may actually have your keys.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

If you are dead set on using your keys to defend yourself, self-defense gurus advise you to carry your keys on a lanyard or a device known as a kubotan that will allow you to swing them as a weapon if necessary.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

If you carry your keys normally, you can still use them to your advantage. Just don’t put them between your fingers like Wolverine. Hold your car key like you would hold a knife, pointing down. It’s still small, pointy, and metal, so you can use it to poke sensitive areas on your assailant’s body, like the throat, eyes, and groin.

Photo Credit: Instagram, matansmethod

If you have a bunch of keys, you can use the same method. Hold them pointing down and stab down on your assailant like you’re drawing an X on them. That should stun them pretty good. Like I said earlier, hopefully none of us will ever have to use any of these tips, but it’s always good to know how best to defend ourselves.

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