Here: http://bigstickcombat.wordpress.com/ Pretty much this is really want you want to be looking at. Very very interesting. Pretty much exactly what you're after.
Hey Taiji Lou, The long and the short of it is, the best options for home defence is a gun and big honkin' dog, preferably protection trained. I have two mastiffs. One was 145 lbs when he was younger and the other is a puppy and still 140-ish lbs... will probably top out at about 200. Anybody that comes into my house is in for the shock of their lives. What you want is one of there: http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/canecorsoitaliano.htm Another good options is the Presa Canario. Lovely dogs. And Irish stick fighting is awesome. Vigny La Canne is good too. Since you are intent on hand weapons, then also find a good European sword school that does a lot of work on the grappling aspect of armed combat, since especially in the German school there's a lot of work on the transition from striking distance to grappling while armed, and also what to do if someone does that to you. You'll also learn knife defence that isn't absolute BS more often than not at such a place. Just a word of warning... if someone is really intent on hurting you, and a blunt object does not stop them, you will be seriously, seriously hurt. You may want to reconsider the shotgun idea, but to each his own. Best regards, -Mark
This is very true. Kids get into all sorts of stuff and do stupid things. A big dog is much more idiot-proof than a twelve-gauge, and perhaps the best anti-burglary protection out there. I'd go with something like a mastiff (big and imposing but typically very gentle and easy-going unless you really freak it out, like by coming in through a window) over a pitbull (smaller but arguably more dangerous; inherently less mellow personality though with good training it often isn't an issue), but that's just personal preference.
Then you don't need to learn how to "weild a baseball bat in an effective manner" unless you're simply some kid that wants to go outside and show off how macho you are for the neighbors. Then you're asking for other people to think for you as well as tell you how to act macho with a baseball bat? While that is quite true in my book, the dog doesn't have to be that large, or protection trained. I've actually had a number of conversations with people that have done time for both burglary and home invasion. They all told me that they avoid houses with anything larger than a little dog because then they have to shoot it in order to shut it up. Gun shots are not a good idea when you are trying not to alert the neighbors to your presence. A medium sized dog won't do much to prevent someone from actually entering your home, but they will act as an effective deterrent causing the invaders to assail an easier target.
Yep even with big dogs its a concern having young kids. Especially something the bull terrier breeds. Any big dog around a small child is a risk... Rotties... you have to be there if the dog is there around the kid at all times. Big dogs (and little ones) have no concept that your child is a kid or toddler and will rip it apart like a rag doll given half the chance. They're just going on instinct and can hardly be blamed... but you don't want it to happen.
I got a big yellow lab that barks at everyting. Guns are a bad idea! Just don't want one in my house. I live in an area called Ocean View... very African American (this city is 80%) and we've got all kinds of stupids doing all kinds of stupid crap. My parents live on a nice street, but about 9 months ago a bunch of gangbangers or whatever broke into a couples house in the night and murdered and robbed them! Absolutely DISGUSTING. I live about 2 miles away, more towards the beach (I live on a decent street) but three blocks up the way and BAM it's like super ghetto gun shots and everything else. I looked up the crime map to see what goes on around my street and it's like burgalry burgalry pedophile burgalry armed assault burgalry rape... map just lit up like a christmas tree. I'd rather have a baseball bat and beat someone senseless than have them come in and just take all of our stuff and be all hoodlum in MY house. My landlord actually does MMA stuff too (he's gone to a muey thai BJJ gym and done that crazy octagon crap) and he's down, too. he's got some nice stuff, and there's always people hanging out on the corners at dusk selling crack (on OUR street!). The potential is there.... so if it goes down i'm getting Irish on their stupid behinds!
Sounds to me like the OP just wants to movie style kung fu ass kick the burglers rather than being practicle, if you live in such a bad neighborhoob cheap unregistered guns are easy to come by. I ONCE AGAIN SUGGEST A SHOTGUN and about the length, get a sawnoff if you must just don't let the cops find it.
Eh this is pretty wrong, my parents bread Akitas and Rotties all through out my child hood, they are more protective than parents at times. Always very gentle only problem we ever had was other dog tried to play with me and two of our rotties tore it to shreads. Dogs= good to have with kids from my experiance. My freakishly large German Shepherd loves kids, lets them pull him around and torment him without second thought he looks like he enjoys it. Dogs do have a concept of children unless they are abused which I can understand being frightened about having them around children. The one exception that goes against what I just preached is pitbulls, unpredictable and nasty cross bread mess.
I think quoting the level of gang activity, rather than the percentage of black people in your neighborhood, might have been the way to go here. In any event, this isn't rocket science. People have been killing each other with clubs for a very, very long time. You basically just get the heavy end to their important bits at a high rate of speed. You could work out thrusting maneuvers drawn from quarterstaff (or any other longstaff method). But essentially, you're proposing to do blunt force trauma to someone with a bat. So hit them with a bat.
Slip's not entirely wrong. Dog's are a risk to children and need supervising. Although I feel that the majority of dogs that hurt a child show signs that they are that way inclined MUCH earlier but the owners are too clueless to spot it. Or they spot it but deny it to themselves. I know someone that has a dog that has bitten their daughter in the face and given the child a black eye and they STILL won't get rid of the dog. The husband in particular is reluctant for some reason. The dog clearly sees itself as higher in the pack than the child and I feel it's only a matter of time before some serious damage is done. I have two dogs and if they ever lay teeth on my daughter they'll be "sent to live on a nice farm". However my dogs are very submissive to my daughter (despite them outweighing her by 60lb and standing much taller than her) and they get out of her way when she wants to get passed (as they have been taught to do to the humans in my "pack"). Big dogs (and little ones) have no concept that your child is a kid or toddler and will rip it apart like a rag doll given half the chance. Now this is wrong. Some dogs are like that. But I'd say the vast majority are not. They certainly aren't eyeing up children like they are the local cat or a joint of beef or something. That's just scaremongering. Dogs and children should be carefully monitored but let's not get silly.
ALL dogs need supervising with children. Even labradors and collies can freak out when a kid pulls their ears and snap, and a single dog bite to a child's face (even a "warning" bite) can do a lot of damage. Pitbulls need even closer supervision than poodles because a "back off now" snap from a pitbull does a LOT more damage. Simply from a biological/mechanical perspective, pitbulls are one of the most dangerous breeds out there. Look at their skull and jaw mechanism compared to a retriever's skull. Add in higher energy levels than many other dogs, and you have a dog that MUST be supervised with children. Just because a dog is "very protective" of your kids doesn't mean it doesn't need supervision. What happens when your kid and his best friend start wrestling on the floor? What's your ultra-protective pitbull going to do to your kid's friend, and will your kid be able to stop it?
It's not wrong at all. Big dogs are big animals. No one in their right minds leaves a toddler around a big animal unattended. There are countless cases of larger dogs attacking and maiming toddlers. Full grown rotties can get in upwards of 120lbs... much much larger and far more powerful than any young child. Even walking my American female rottie - she could if she wanted to rip my arm clean out of the socket - she's done near so a time or two when excited by a ball. He has four legs on the ground as opposed to my two... her neck and shoulders are far more powerful than mine are. Her teeth are long and sharper as well. Her body is built for working and pulling. No kid stands a chance. Most adults don't stand a chance. It'd be even more of an issue if my dog was male. Dogs do not have a concept of children. This is why many breeds will try to herd children because they seem them in the same light... as another animal... not as a human child. Certain breeds have a 'high prey-drive' and need to be really watched... other breeds less so. Obviously it helps to avoid any instances if your dog has been trained properly and was brought up in a loving environment... but the facts remain... large dogs are far more powerful than small children and if they decide to turn... even because of a misunderstood intention... you can end up with one very dead kid. I'm a huge lover and defender of dogs... but I don't leave them around toddlers without supervision. Examples: (presa canerio) http://www.crawleyobserver.co.uk/news/UPDATE-Toddler-killed-by-family.6235262.jp (rottweiler attacks and kills family toddler) http://www.tmz.com/2010/03/01/ax-men-jesse-browning-dog-rottweiler-attack-daughter-death-killed/12/ (Weimaraner) http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=11715849 (pit bull) http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/092009/09292009/497013 (French bull mastiff) http://www.madeformums.com/toddler/dog-safety-advice-after-toddler-attacked-by-family-pet/4248.html (pit - attack and sodomized a kid... ouch!!) http://lockportjournal.com/crime/x212269113/DOG-ATTACK-Family-dog-reportedly-assaulted-2-year-old http://www.nbc-2.com/Global/story.asp?S=11715849 (labrador puppy kills child) http://www.dogmagazine.net/archives/633/labrador-kills-child/ (black lab attacks and injures kids severely) http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=65161 (cairn terrier/poodle mix attacks kid sleeping with mom) http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080617/LOCAL07/806170302 The list can go on and on and on... the point is... kids in general and especially toddlers and younger kids shouldn't be left unsupervised around larger more powerful dogs. The list above isn't even all pit bulls... the smaller breeds often having worse temperments... Collies, Bichon Frises, Corgi's, Chihuahuas, Dachshund's, Setter's, Schnauzer's... all breed with temparment's prone to biting or attacking all above and beyond pitbulls or many of the terrier breeds. The big difference when a bigger more powerful dog attacks a toddler... it's often severe or fatal because of the sheer power of the larger animal. Here... look at the stats yourself - that's not fearmongering: http://www.atts.org/statistics.html so do what you want... if you think your parents raising Rotties and Akita's somehow nullifies the instinctual behavior of large dogs and the way dogs behave around small children then you really need to think that through again.
Actually I think millenia of selective breeding (for stability and pain tolerance) has engineered most dogs to be fairly non-aggresive to humans. A stone age dog that snapped because a child pulled its ear would have ended up in the stew! Most people who think their dog will fight off an attacker for them or protect their home by attacking an intruder are deluded. Dogs bark. Snap if cornered or hurt but most are very reluctant to bite people. I really think you are overstating how instinctive a dogs desire to attack children is slip. Dogs are a danger for sure. But I really think you can get to know a dog and know that it's chances of attacking your child are almost non-existant (no matter what breed it is). It's never 0% but you can't tar all dogs with the same brush. Just think how many millions of dog and child interactions there are every day and it's plain to see that if dogs truly viewed children as "prey" then we'd remove dogs from society because they'd be mauling kids left right and centre. There are too many attacks on children for sure but not as many as you'd expect if dogs were truly predatory. As stated many people don't recognise the signs that their dog is aggressive as a general attitude (I'm thinking of small dogs mainly here) and a child ends up bearing the brunt because they are small and close to the ground. I think toddlers suffer because many people let their dogs up on the settee, on their lap or are carried (elevated privileged positions) while the child is left on the floor to crawl or toddle about. Automatically you are saying to the dog that they have rank over the child and make a bite or reprimand from the dog more likely. Oh and the ATTS's aren't statistics for how likely a dog is to bite a kid. Many dogs can fail those tests that aren't (much) of a danger to children. And dogs that pass can be. It's a snap shot test that is good (the UK should run more of that sort of thing) but no sure fire predictor of behaviour.
While dogs can be security trained to fight off attackers, they are then no longer the family pet and are actually quite dangerous to have around. That's what makes them an effective deterrent to both burglary and home invasion. A dog will bark at a stranger, especially an aggressive stranger. It will continue barking until made to stop. Burglars and home invaders are trying to avoid alerting the neighbors. For the OP ... strutting around acting like a badass with a baseball bat in a neighborhood such as you describe will most likely simply get you laughed at. At worst it can get you and your family dead if someone decides to take you seriously. Teach the dog to bark at strangers. Always be aware of who and what is going on around you. Those are the things that will keep you safe, not baseball bats
