Murphy Martial Arts

Having to defend yourself against a dog, or pack of dogs is a real possibility. When assessing the situation with a single dog, you need to consider whether the dog is a trained attack dog, defense dog, semi-trained, untrained, and the breed.

One thing you never want to do is run from a dog. It can cause the dog to attack you as it would prey in the wild. Another thing you never want to do is, never turn your back on it. You don’t want to look an aggressive dog in the eyes. So avoid eye contact. You don’t want to start yelling at the owner of the dog. Dog’s tend to be a reflection of the personality of their owners.

If a dog runs up to you barking and growling, you need to slowly brace yourself, and give commands as if it was your dog. Sit, no, down, etc. Do not get in a fighting stance or raise your hands while going through this stage. It could cause the dog to ignore commands.

If the above fails and you have to defend yourself, using a weapon to defend yourself, is always better then defending yourself empty handed. Things you can use are a cane, umbrella, rocks, or anything else you can pick up and throw at the animal to chase it off. I think using a cane is pretty self explanatory. Using an umbrella is done by opening the umbrella and pointing it at the dog as a shield. The idea is that the dog can’t see you to attack. So keep the umbrella between you and the dog. Using projectiles like rocks is a good choice, but again try to keep something between you and the dog if possible. You might try to stay on the other side of a car, or climb on top of it, or anything else you can climb on the dog can’t climb. Of course a knife can also be used.

The best choice if it is a legal option where you are, is pepper spray. It will allow you to disable the dog at a short distance, without any permanent harm to the animal.

Facing a trained attack dog is very dangerous. Some are trained to attack different parts of the body. This could be arm, throat, or groin. If the dog is well trained it will recognize some signals, that will stop it from attacking. Don’t move. If you raise your hands above your head, or lay down on the ground with your hands behind your head (I don’t like this option since if it fails you’re pretty much defenseless), a well trained dog will stop. A semi-trained dog is more dangerous, because it might know how to attack you, and not know when to stop. So if you raised your hands and stopped moving, and the animal attacks anyway, you need to defend yourself with other measures.

If you’re facing an untrained animal without a weapon, depending on size and breed you have different options. Presuming it is a good sized dog, you could wrap a coat, or anything else around your arm. Make sure you keep you hand closed. Fingers can easily be bitten off if your hand is open. Hold the protected arm out in front of you. The idea is to try and get the dog to attack that arm. If you can get them to bit onto the arm, you want grab and fall on top of the dog, pinning it down. At this point you need to eliminate the dogs ability to attack you, before you can get up and let go. The easiest way would be to take it’s eyes out. The dog is likely to take the arm more then 50% of the time.

Some dogs will not go for an arm but attack more vital areas. An option is to use closed fists, punching it in the face as hard, fast and often as you can. The same as you might treat a man attacking you. Try to avoid kicking unless the dog is attacking your legs, or is small enough that it isn’t a threat to your throat. Punching a dog in the mouth is going to end up with you getting your hands cut up, but the dog isn’t going to like getting punched in the mouth either.

The reason I say avoid kicking if possible is that the dog can bite your leg and take you off your feet, putting you in a much worse position. Or the dog could attack your groin. However if you are facing a dog that is attacking your legs you’ll have to kick it. Again if it is a small animal, that will be the best option anyway.

Fighting a pack of dogs is extremely dangerous. They will hunt in a pack the same as wolves or coyotes in the wild. One or more will confront you while the rest, will circle looking for a chance to take you down from behind, like any other prey. If you can climb up on something they can’t, and throw anything you can down on them, it may be your best option. If you can’t climb out of harms way you need to get your back to a wall so they can attack you from behind. At this point it is hitting with any weapon you have. You don’t want them to latch onto you, preventing you from hitting, and you certainly don’t want them dragging you to the ground.

There is a lot out there on the subject of internal and external martial arts. A lot of it is very good information, some is pitched as a marketing approach, other information could be attributed in either ignorance, or arrogance. There may be more then one truth here. I think that the meaning of internal and external martial arts has changed over many years.

The original distinction between external and internal martial arts comes from Huang Zongxi’s 1669 Epitaph for Wang Zhengnan. The identification of the internal martial arts with the Taoism indigenous to China, and its identification of the external martial arts with the foreign Buddhism of Shaolin, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty to which Huang Zongxi was opposed. This may have been an act of political defiance rather than one of technical classification.

What people speak of today as differences in internal and external, tend to refer to principles, and interpretation of such principles. I think this line of thinking may have started being promoted around the mid 1800’s with Yang Lu Chan, and became widely accepted in the 1920’s-1930’s.

I think the reason that the three sisters (Hsing-I, Bagua, and Tai Chi) are generally thought of as the only internal systems, is due to Sun Lu Tang who practiced and taught, these three systems. Sun Lu Tang lived from 1860 yo 1933, and taught until 1928. He was a very prominent practitioner of his day.

Regardless of the origin of this classification scheme, Chinese martial art styles have external and internal components. Classification is only where the initial emphasis of a particular style is, and should not be considered an absolute division.

While I practice one system commonly associated with Shaolin (Tzu Men Chuan), it is every bit as internal as Taijiquan, Bagua, and Hsing-I (I also practice these systems). I also practice Hsiao Chiu Tien Chuan, and Liu Ho Pa Fa which are also internal systems. All three of these are internal by either definition of what an internal art is. I’m sure there are still many others out there. However practitioners of these styles aren’t as opposed to external conditioning, as are some of the modern practitioners of some of the internal arts.

Another thing to keep in mind is that all external martial arts are not the same, in interpretation of principles or complexity, anymore then are the internal systems. While I focus on Chinese martial arts, I did spend many years training Japanese, Korean, and other external systems. The different systems of external alone are night and day apart. I would say that Karate would be more dissimilar to any Shaolin Kung Fu system, then any of the internal systems would be from a Shaolin system. Of course this is just my opinion based on my experience. Others may disagree.

Today there may be more of a difference in the internal systems and external, then there was 100 years ago, when people still fought for real, without today’s sport rules.

I believe most of the systems referred to as Shaolin today are really family systems. All through history many people have exaggerated the origins of their systems. It is as true today as it was hundreds of years ago. If someone could attribute their system to coming from Shaolin, it sounded better, then saying they created it themselves.

This has nothing to do with the validity of the systems as systems, but has always been a marketing ploy. You’d have to look at each system individually to really find it’s origin, if it is important to you. Then the question is are there any written records to provide proof? I mean something more then a creation myth.

So was there martial arts practiced widely in the Shaolin temples? If so who brought them there? Was there ever any martial arts taught at a temple on Mount Wudang at all? I’d suggest reading all the articles written by Stanley Henning who is an independent scholar, who has spent a great deal of time and effort to uncover the truth. http://seinenkai.com/articles/henning/ . There are many other sources out there, you should do your own research to discover truth.

http://seinenkai.com/articles/henning/
http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/sun1.htm
http://www.martialdevelopment.com/blog/defining-the-internal-martial-arts/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A8iji%C4%81
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_kung_fu

Many people wonder whether they should carry a weapon for self defense. Perhaps if they understand the mind set of someone that attacks them with a weapon, it will help them make up their mind.

My experience is that anyone that uses a knife will try to hide it from you until you are cut if they can. The only exception I’ve run across is when they think they have you in a situation you can’t escape, where they want to look you in the eye as they cut you. Someone with knowledge, skill, and the will to use a knife is extremely dangerous. Perhaps more dangerous then someone with a gun inside of 15 feet or so. especially if the weapons are holstered. A knife can cut in any direction, while a gun can only shoot you if the barrel is pointed at you. Of course you can still be hit with the gun.

Here is a situation that comes to mind to show how sneaky a knife man can be. This is the first face-to-face situation I ran into, and was lucky enough to have survived.

Many years ago I was in an establishment having an adult beverage when a young lady that was a friend of someone I knew came up to say hi. Her boy friend was on the other side of the room watching. He had just gotten out of prison, and thought she had been cheating on him while he was away. Of course I didn’t really know her except to say hi, so had no idea of the situation at first. Anyway he somehow got it in his head I had some involvement, and decided to resolve the issue.

He came up to me and started talking, and I tried to explain to him he was wrong, as did she. After a while of talking and keeping him at a distance, he said “OK” lets shake. I stood there for what felt like several minutes saying that was ok, lets move on….He wouldn’t withdraw his hand. So I eventually reached out and shook his hand to get him to go away.

He seized my hand in a vise grip. I tried to make him let go, pushing all the nerve points etc.. I was told would make him do so to no avail. Being a right handed person myself, I was shocked as he reached under his coat and pulled a knife to stick me with his left hand. I managed to deal with the situation and survived, but what would you do?

I’ve been involved in several other situations with knifes, and guns, and will tell you I don’t like being the man in the room that is unarmed. Just say Baa…Baa…kill me please…I deserve it for being stupid.

Look, anyone that carry’s a weapon Wants to do so legally(if possible), and have it look like something they happen to have on hand at the time. You don’t want to go to jail for using a weapon in a premeditated manor.

So with that in mind the most common knife is a screw driver. It is nastier then the common knife, because it pokes a hole that can’t be sewn together, similar to Kris knife. It also is a common household utensil. So proving intent is far more difficult.

I know folks that carry a screw driver, a claw hammer, or a ball ping hammer for the same reasons. All they have to do is come up with a reason for having it on them, at the time of the event. You don’t want hit with any of these things. Of course a heavy flash light is extremely common, even the cops like to use this as a weapon.

Bikers like to take a pad lock, and tie a bandanna to it, stick it in their back pocket. Pull it out in an emergency and you have one heck of a black jack.

Remember if someone is willing to attack you, they are willing to kill you. Your life means nothing to them.