Former Navy SEAL Joshua Morton was a K-9 handler when he served five tours overseas. With the rise of school shooters in the United States, he decided to use his talent into good use and helped in training dogs to take down school shooters.
“I did not expect to see what I saw overseas to see it in schools. But, unfortunately, it’s happening,” Morton told NBC Washington News4. “I’ve been trying to find this solution for a very long time.”
Morton was known for training police dogs to detect drugs or explosives and using what he calls the Morton Method. Now he said the solution into training dogs who could protect children starts with finding the right dog – one who could run toward the sound of gunfire, to be exact.
His own dog was trained for that, so Morton and his friend Jimmy demonstrated the dog’s ability for the I-team at a training facility outside his home in Chariton, Iowa. Jimmy acts as the gunman and fired numerous assault rifles with blank rounds, while Morton acts as the dog’s handler.
“We’re not just releasing the dog and the dog’s just randomly searching the building. It’s a combo. It’s a team,” Morton said.
The dog uses its sense of sound, smell, and sight to find the room where Jimmy is. Morton clarified that his dog is not after Jimmy himself, because minutes after when Jimmy was without a gun, the dog jumps up to him to say hello.
“They’re trained to deal with that specific situation,” Morton explained.
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