Two Dowagiac businesses have teamed up, in hopes of providing residents with all the training they will need to protect themselves and their loved ones from danger.

Earlier this week, the Jacobs Martial Arts Academy moved in with PDK Firearms, a firearm instruction school, at the latter’s storefront at 113 Commercial St. downtown. The two businesses will spilt usage of the building during  weekdays, and will combine their respective skillsets for special courses on weekends, said Jerry Jacobs, owner of the martial arts school.

Jacobs, who opened his school in November at its previous location on Division Street, said he had discussed sharing a storefront with PDK Firearms owner Paul Dodson for the last several months. The two struck up a friendship when Dodson began taking classes from Jacobs shortly after the opening of his school, Jacobs said.

Given how closely related their two fields of instruction were, both owners figured it would be a natural marriage for them to team up at one location, Jacobs said.

“We felt this is the direction that self-direction is heading,” he said. “The future is a combination of martial arts training and firearm instruction. No one else in the area is doing this.”

Jacobs is teaching evening classes in the studio on Mondays and Wednesdays, while Dodson will continue to offer his virtual firearm simulator and CPL courses Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Jacobs currently teaches four different classes: a kempo karate course for children 5 to 11; a self-defense course for adults, which combines different practical defense techniques from various martial art disciplines such as boxing and kickboxing; and courses on Filipino and Indonesian martial arts, two schools that are rapidly gaining popularity due to their usage in recent Hollywood action movies, Jacobs said.

“No one around here is offering these kinds of classes,” Jacobs said. “The closest places that I know of are in Detroit and Lansing.”

PDK’s courses are focused around its simulations, which incorporate a mock pistol and 12-foot projection screen. Participants can run through 445 scenarios based off real world situations, and are designed to teach people skills such as proper footwork and weapon concealment, Jacobs said.

On weekends, the two schools plan to offer special courses that combine their respective knowledge. One such course is a one-day, six-hour women’s self defense course, where participants are taught how to defend themselves in any number of practical situations, from being grabbed from behind to fending off more than one attacker, Jacobs said.

“We ahd our first course on Saturday,” Jacobs said. “It was just a trial run, to see how well it went. The women who participated really loved it.”

The schools will host another one of these sessions on Saturday, March 25.

PDK Firearms is open 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. People interested in enrolling in classes may contact Jacobs at (586) 764-5257 or Dodson at (269) 462-1837.