A good guy with a dog? Some advocates say dogs can prevent school violence.

While many argue that school safety hinges armed personnel, cameras or alarms in classrooms, Mark Gomer has sent a gun- and drug-detecting dog to patrol the halls of an Ohio high school, while Kristi Schiller is launching a nonprofit in Houston to give schools the trained canines for free. Their programs are still in their infancy, so questions remain about dogs that can distract, scare or send kids into sneezing fits. But they think they can cultivate their ideas to help schools across the country stay safe.

Gomer’s first full-time safety dog is a year-old Dutch shepherd named Atticus, who reported to duty this school year at Oak Hills High School in Green Township in southwest Ohio.