Real-world encounters rarely happen in textbook positions. Most defensive tactics programs teach ideal stances and mechanics for producing force when you have mobility and time. The problem is that an adversary will often try to deny you those advantages by forcing you into awkward, constrained, or compromised positions. When that happens you no longer fight from the textbook. You must be effective from bad angles, against the ground, and while wearing duty gear.
Timing and positioning are central to this reality. A well-timed action can put an opponent behind time and dramatically reduce their ability to recover. Ambushes and planned assaults are designed to create that behind-time advantage. Your training must account for both sides of that equation, so you can avoid being put out of position and so you can regain initiative when it happens.
We call this work Dog Boxing. It is practical out-of-position fighting. Dog Boxing examines the worst-case body positions a practitioner might face and trains specific mechanics, mobility, and techniques from each of those positions. Scenarios include being pinned against a wall, pushed to the ground while pressed to a hard surface, seated in a vehicle, sitting in a booth, or being dragged or removed from a car. Each scenario changes how you generate power, create space, and control an opponent, especially when you are carrying a duty belt or everyday carry equipment.
Applied to law enforcement, this training blends control, survival, and legal defensibility. Officers practice movement and control options that work while standing, kneeling, or on the ground. They learn to maintain situational awareness, manage secondary threats, and protect their equipment and firearm retention. Techniques are selected and adapted so they remain effective while preserving officer safety and public trust.
Training is scenario driven and stress tested. We use progressive resistance, live problem solving, and video review so officers learn to read intent, apply timing, and transition between positions under pressure. The goal is simple: give officers practical, repeatable tools to survive and control incidents when they are not in an ideal fighting position.
If your unit expects to face ambushes, vehicle-based attacks, or close-quarters fights in confined spaces, out-of-position training is essential. It closes the gap between theory and reality and builds the kind of resiliency and decision-making that keeps officers and communities safer.
The Dog Boxing program is delivered in five phases:
PHASE 1
Introducing The Wall Of Violence. Vertical Surface Mechanics.
PHASE 2
Kneeling
PHASE 3
The Seated Position
PHASE 4
Ground – Application of the Basic Defensive Posture
PHASE 5
The Dog Walk / Four Point Base
Surface Engagement
Another area of focus in this program is to teach the practitioner the ability to engage different surfaces more intelligently. There should be more than just learning to do a break fall. One of the program’s objectives is to introduce a more active engagement of any surface that we may be close to when engaged in an encounter with an opponent. The ability to do this intelligently not only decreases your potential for injury but it will also increases the possibilities you have a counterattack on an opponent. For this reason, surface engagement is one of the fundamental building blocks of the Dog Boxing program.
