Israel Guide Dog Center - Part 1

Join Rabbi Robyn for a heartfelt and informative conversation with Michael Leventhal, former Executive Director and current Treasurer of the Board of USA Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Center.

Discover the incredible journey of Noach Braun, a former IDF paratrooper, whose unwavering determination led to the creation of Israel's first guide dog school for the blind in 1991. Noach traveled from Israel to the US to raise funds from Jewish sources to create the guide dog school, and he faced countless rejections. Eventually, he met Norman Leventhal (Michael’s father), who wholeheartedly supported Noach’s cause and made it possible for Noach’s dream to become a reality. Noach's story is a testament to the power of passion and perseverance.

In this episode, we delve into the process of breeding, raising, and training these exceptional dogs. Learn how volunteers, typically university students, dedicate a year to raising puppies and teaching them obedience and commands, before facing an emotional separation when the dogs are ready for their essential roles. Understand the rigorous training and evaluation these dogs undergo to ensure they are perfectly equipped to assist the blind, visually impaired, and those with PTSD or special needs. We also touch on the deep relationships formed between the dogs and their raisers, as well as the dogs and their eventual owners.

Hear moving accounts of lives transformed through the gift of a guide dog. This episode is a powerful tribute to the remarkable impact these guide dogs have on individuals and their communities, and a celebration of the enduring connection between humans and their canine companions. 

And best of all, there’s more to come in the next episode, when Michael will return to share more about this very special organization.

I hope you enjoy listening to the Mazel Pups podcast as much as I enjoy making it. If you have an idea for a future episode or want to be in touch, email me at mazelpups@gmail.com.

If you want more of Mazel Pups, you can:
* Follow on Instagram @mazelpups
* Follow the Mazel Pups Facebook Page
* Join the Mazel Pups Facebook Group
* Check out the Mazel Pups Store with fun Jewish dog-themed items for dogs & humans (mazelpups.com.shop)

And the PAWSITIVELY JEWISH 2025 CALENDAR, which features super-cute dogs dressed up for & celebrating Jewish holidays, and includes Jewish & Israeli holidays, dog holidays & national US & Canadian holidays, is now for sale at PrintArtKids.com/Calendars. A portion of the proceeds from the calendar will go to the Israel Guide Dog Center. Check out this awesome calendar and get one for yourself - and they make great gifts for friends and family, while helping to support an awesome cause.

Finally, I'd love it if you'd subscribe to the podcast and let us know if you enjoyed it by giving it five stars.

Thanks for listening!
Rabbi Robyn

Transcript

00:07 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

Hi, it's Rabbi Robyn Frisch. Chances are, if you're watching or listening to this podcast, that you love Judaism and you love dogs. And if that's the case, then Mazel Pops has the perfect calendar for you: the Pawsitively Jewish 2025 Calendar. The calendar is a collaboration between Mazel Pops and PrintArtKids. Each month features a full color photo of a super-cute dog celebrating a Jewish holiday or sporting Jewish themed clothing and or accessories. You can learn more about the calendar or purchase one - or even better purchase one for yourself and a few others for friends and relatives - at PrintArtKids.com/calendars. Best of all, you can feel great about buying the calendar because a portion of our profits will be donated to the Israel Guide Dog Center. You won't just be getting a great calendar, but you'll also be helping to provide guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired in Israel, provide PTSD-trained service dogs for soldiers who've experienced service-related emotional trauma, and provide emotional support dogs for those with special needs. 

So now let's meet Michael Leventhal and hear about the Israel Guide Dog Center and the great work that they do. 

01:32

Shalom, welcome. I'm Rabbi Robyn Frisch, and this is the Mazel Pups podcast. If you're Jewish or Jew-ish, however you define it, and you love dogs, then this is the podcast for you. Our guest today is Michael Leventhal. He is the former Executive Director of USA Friends of the Israel Guide Dog Center, and he is the current Treasurer of the Board. 

This is such an important organization, one that I really feel fits perfectly with Mazel Pups. It's what we're all about: it's Jewish, it's about dogs, it's in Israel. It's something that I care about greatly, and so I'm really excited to have Michael here today. I know that you'll also all enjoy hearing from him about the history of the Israel Guide Dog Center and about the great work that they've done in the past and that they continue to do up until this very day and will, I am confident, continue to do in the future. But before we talk about the Israel Guide Dog Center, we need, Michael, for you to do the Mazel Pups lightning round. So I have four questions for you. 

Do you currently have a dog or did you ever have a dog? 

02:38 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

We had a lovely long-haired dachshund and she passed after 17 years, and that was not long ago. So we don't currently, but I'm sure we will again. But it's been a…it was a difficult passing and we needed a little bit of a break. 

02:54 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

It is a hard loss. I'm sorry to hear that. 

02:55 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Thank you. 

02:56 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

And can you…I know it's emotional, probably, especially when you've lost a dog recently, but can you tell us one or two fun facts that make you smile when you think of your dog? 

03:09 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

This was the happiest little dachshund - and a lot of times dachshunds can be a little moody and a little snappy, but this dog was just the greatest lap dog and she was just a terrific dog and she would sit at the back door, staring at the back door, waiting for us to come home. So you knew she loved us, we loved her. It was a wonderful, wonderful relationship and we got her when the children were 10 and 12. So it was a perfect time for them to learn responsibility and the love of a dog and she filled everything you could ask of a puppy. She did. 

03:42 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

That's awesome. So we're going to shift gears a moment from dogs to Judaism, and I want to ask you what do you love most about being Jewish? 

03:50 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

We've always been connected. My parents were Zionists from the start and in the 60s we used to own a hotel and a restaurant and my parents would always invite people in who were staying at the lodge. And we invited a guy named Elan Karasek in 1968. And he said to my parents, the most important Jewish holiday there is a Shabbat, and you should honor Shabbat and you should do Shabbat. And we have a large family as it was. I'm one of five kids, so automatically we have seven. And then, you know, always guests, always friends, always nearby relatives, and we did Shabbat every Friday and still do since 1968. And it's the. 

I think Shabbat is the most important holiday of the in the Jewish calendar and because we keep it, our kids know their cousins and it's Thanksgiving every Friday and everybody brings something. So I have a very strong feeling just because of Shabbat. I think, and of course, Israel and just the traditions that we have are so special to us. So I think it's traditions that we have are so special to us. So I think it's traditions that make our religion so special. 

05:09 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

You know, as you're talking, I'm reminded of the Ahad Ha'am quote that “more than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews.” And Shabbat has really in so many ways kept Jewish communities and families together. I have so many fond memories of growing up being at my grandmother's on Shabbat with my cousins. There were four of them, so you know, we had two kids in my family. But that made six kids on Shabbat and extended family. And a lot of people, I think, don't think of Shabbat as a holiday because it comes so regularly. But it is a holiday and it's the most important holiday and we have the opportunity to celebrate it every single week. So thank you for reminding everyone of that. So you kind of answered my next question, which is what is your favorite Jewish holiday and why? Two part question. But I'm going to ask, if you don't mind, besides Shabbat, what's your favorite holiday? 

05:56 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

I think all of them, because they involve the family getting together. So Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, you know ,all of them. So I'm sorry I can't just pick one. But any holiday that brings the family together and we enjoy each other's company and we realize the special connection we have as Jews, they all are important to me. 

06:20 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

That's great. As a rabbi, I can't complain about that answer. 

06:22 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

That's good, I agree with you. 

06:24 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

Now we're going to shift gears yet again to what you're here to talk about, which is the Israel Guide Dog Center. And many people may have heard of the Israel Guide Dog Center who are listening, and many people, I assume, have not heard of it. But before we get to talking about it today, I want you to share with everyone: How did it get started? 

06:45 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

This is a great story and every nonprofit should have a great story. This is a great story. I'm going to take you back to the 80s. 

There was a young man in the in the IDF named Noach Braun, and Noach was a 26 year old paratrooper who trained dogs for the military. So now, when you're thinking about dogs for the military, this is cadaver finding, terrorist hunting. Many people don't realize that dogs are used by the military to find people in urban environments. A dog can smell where somebody is behind a door, so instead of kicking in every door, the dogs will target the door that they should kick in. So Noach trained dogs for the military and he loved it, loved working with the dogs. And he said: “when I get out of the army, I want to use dogs and work with dogs for good.” And he figured that there would be a guide dog school in Israel. He didn't know, gets out of the army, looks for a guide dog school - very quickly realizes there isn't one. 

And at that time, if you were blind, you had to go to Jerusalem and pass an English test. If you spoke English well enough, then you got on a plane and went to America to get a guide dog. So if you don't speak English, you're done. There's no dog for you. If you do speak English, leave your family for a month, go to New Jersey, get a dog that doesn't understand the traffic in Israel, doesn't understand aggressive drivers, doesn't understand that people park on the sidewalk, doesn't understand Hebrew, you know. And then you get your dog, you go back to Israel and there's nobody there to support you if you have needs - you know, follow up training. 

So this 26-year-old kid decides: “I'm going to start a guide dog school.” Now, that's the first miracle of our story. How many 26-year-olds do you know want to change the world? Not many - truly altruistically, I mean. There's no profit motive in this kid's mind. So he decides: “this is my life, this is what I'm going to do.” Gets on a plane…

8:38 – Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

Or they want to change the world, but how many actually do it?

08:40 – Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Exactly right - and to have the perseverance and the gumption to do it. So Noach gets on a plane on his own, no help from the government, lands at JFK and he thought there'd be a big sign “Welcome Noach - this way to train guide dogs.” Well, of course there was no sign and Noach found New York to be inhospitable and he worked odd jobs and he worked at Moishe's Movers and he started calling all of the guide dog schools in America. There's 10 major schools at that time. “Will you train me to be a trainer? I'd like to take this skill back to my people.” All 10 turned him down…every one, and he was heartbroken. 

09:18 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

And this is because he wasn't going to work with them. They didn't want to teach him to do it in Israel. 

09:22 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Exactly. Well, we do believe that some of it was antisemitism. But the other side was most guide dog schools when they train an apprentice, expect that apprentice to work for them. And so there was no school that's just set up where you can pay tuition and learn the skill. So Noach was heartbroken. I mean, he kept trying. They kept saying no. He doesn't give up so easily. 

Finally, he goes to the consulate in New York, and he's the consul of Israel in New York and said: “Can you help me? Can you write a letter? Can you soften their hearts? I just want to help our people.” And the consul said: “No, you know, you're an individual, we're political, we can't do it.” But the guy at the desk said: “But I know a guy in Pennsylvania loves Israel, loves Jewish causes. Let's give him a call.” So they called the guy up and the guy says: “Hey, the last thing I need is another project, I'm too busy, I can't do it, I just can't.” 

And the consul said: “Meet the kid. He's a mensch. He's not trying to get rich. Kust meet him. If you can't help him, you can't help him. But at least meet him.” He says you know: “Okay, it's the first night of Hanukkah, 1986. Have him come down to my home.” He gets on a bus, comes to Doylestown. The guy meets him and picks him up, brings him to his home, falls in love with him. He said he's never met anybody so focused and so special. Well, that guy was my dad and it was the first night of Hanukkah 1986. And we think that it's interesting that an organization for the blind was founded on the Festival of Light. So that's where we met. 

10:51 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

Now, were you home that night? 

10:53 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

I was. You remember this. I was there. Yep. And so we met. Literally the family fell in love with him. I mean, he's just that kind of magnetic personality. You've met him, you know. And he still is the director in Israel. So it's not like this is an old story. And my father said I'm going to find a way to help this kid. And we started the nonprofit around the kitchen table. And so my father starts calling all of the guide dog schools and getting the same “no, no, no, no.” But finally the school in Ohio says: “Look, if you stop calling we'll take him. But you got to raise $100,000 to offset our cost.” $100,000 in 1986 was a lot of money. My dad said: “Do it.” That's when we formed the nonprofit. We raised enough money to get him trained. It's a four-year course, it's not simple. He did two years in Ohio and then he wanted to do two years in England because he wanted to learn more than just one system. He wanted to have a well-rounded background. And now it's 1991, and that's when we began. 

11:57 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

Wow and I'm curious. So you said you were there. I assume you've got four siblings. Your mom was everyone in your family around at the time?  

11:59 – Michael Leventhal (Guest)

My older brother was not, but the rest of us were. 

12:03 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

And did you all think” this is great”? Or did you think “dad's a little crazy”? 

12:12 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

No, dad's a little crazy. And even my father always teased Noah, you know. He always said to him: “You've ruined my life. You know, life was going fine without you. And now, so you know've raised enough money to get him trained.” And my dad said to him “OK, you know what now?” “Well, I'll go back to the kibbutz and they'll give me a little corner.” And we said: “You know, we've raised enough money, let's buy you a little house.” So we bought him a house in Netanya and he lived in the house with his family and he brought the blind people in one by one into his home and we built kennels in his backyard and slowly by slowly we grew and finally we moved to our location now in Beit Oved, which is just 20 minutes south of Tel Aviv, and now we have a beautiful center. We have a dorm. We’ve trained over a thousand dogs since 1991. So we've changed lives immeasurably for over a thousand people. 

13:05 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

So when Noach started there was no one else trained in Israel. Was he the only one training dogs in the very beginning? 

13:11 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

That's correct. There had been a woman who trained dogs - believe it or not for Hitler - and then came to Israel… immigrated to Israel and she had her own guide dog school. Menzel was her name, Dr Menzel. And when she died it died with her. So there was a school for a period of time and in the 60s it stopped and then Noah picked up the mantle again in 86 and then 91, when we actually started. 

13:43 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

And was he the one who originally trained all the other trainers? 

13:46 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Yes, but we also did the same thing. We took trainers and paid other guide dog schools to train our trainers, because Noach was busy training dogs and matching clients. So our first two trainers - I remember we had one in Australia and one in America - and they learned the craft and came back. So then we had three trainers and slowly by slowly we grew. And now we have eight trainers. And we are training in-house ourselves now, although we still like our trainers to learn from other systems. 

Israelis are very adaptable and the one thing about Israel is the mentality is it's never right enough, it's never good enough. There's always a better way, and if you just learn one system and you just stay with one system, you never get better. When you go at other schools and see different methods and see different things that are working and things that are not working, you bring it back and I believe in my heart that we have the most innovative, quickest training because we have learned from so many different places and we're very, very pleased with the quality and the speed with which we're able to train each dog. 

14:59 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

So I'm curious. I mean, I know you can't speak for someone else, but unfortunately your dad's no longer with us. He lived into his 90s. What was it like for him? Did he get to go to Beit Oved and see the growth of this organization and what he had been absolutely instrumental in helping to create? 

15:15 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

My dad was a very hands-on guy. So even though we are in America and the organizations in Israel, he went to Israel twice a year for a month at a time and he worked at the center, and he met the clients and he swept the sidewalks and he planted plants and anything he could do to be a part of the organization. He did. More than anything, it was raising funds and raising awareness, which he was an expert at. He founded the Buxmont UJA, which later became Federation. So he was always involved. He was the president of our synagogue. He was always involved in Jewish causes and the Soviet Jewry movement. So this was just the next project and it was the love of his life at the end. As far as how proud he was of what we were doing, the lives we were changing. Meeting the clients was so special to him. He treated every client like a best friend, so he loved it and he loved being a part of it. 

16:17 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

I love that he stayed involved in the fundraising - which is essential because it wouldn't exist without the fundraising - but that he also got to be part of not just watching the hands-on but actually being there and partaking in the daily chores. Even that had to be done. And speaking of the fundraising, which, of course, is essential, so we've got Israel Guide Dog Center in Israel. Then I know that you had been working for and now you're on the board of Israel Guide Dogs I think it's USA. 

“16:48 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Israel Guide Dogs, it's just, it's just the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind. We were founded before the center in Israel was founded. Okay, so we are the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind. Um, we, it was formed in America. I was the volunteer for the first 26 years and then became the Executive Director when my dad could no longer continue. I was the first paid Executive Director and left my life in the for-profit world - took a cut. But one of my nieces used to say: “I'm in it for the outcomes, not the income,” and it was truly a great way to end my career. I only retired a year ago, but so altogether, I was with the organization for 36 years, and I still am. But I was active for 36 years. Now I'm a little bit quieter and taking the role of grandpa a little more seriously. 

17:39 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

And I know there's also in Mazlita. There's also a Canadian organization or part of it. 

17:45 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

We do have a Canadian Friends and we have a British Friends. So we have four fundraising arms America, Canada, England and Israel. The other countries bring in as much as they can and then America makes up the difference. We bring in 80% of the income for the Center. The budget in Israel is about $4 million a year. It's very labor intensive. We have about 60 staff members now, grown significantly over the years, and that's grown because our programs have grown. We don't just do the guide dogs. I know we're going to get into this later. but we do PTSD service dogs for soldiers and we do emotional support dogs for children with autism or on the spectrum. I should say so we've expanded our needs, our services and we've had to expand staff because of it, and training dogs is very labor intensive. It's not a simple process. So we're happy to be where we are. 

18:52 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

So tell me about the training dogs a little bit. I remember being at the center in Beit Oveiid a couple of summers ago, never having even heard of Beit Oveid before. But we took a taxi from Tel Aviv. It's not that far and it's an amazing place for a gazillion reasons. But as someone who loves dogs, seeing these adorable puppies, you know, some are still nursing from their moms - and seeing the dogs that breed…And often as a rescue, as a strong advocate for rescue, you know, in America I'm uncomfortable with dogs being bred often. But when they're being bred for a purpose and you really do need dogs with certain parents, it's obviously very different. So you see these beautiful mothers and you see these gorgeous babies and obviously these little gorgeous puppies don't become guide dogs or service dogs in a day. A lot of work goes into it. So you can, can you tell me both how the staff as well as volunteers take us from these adorable, sweet puppies I got to see to working guide and service dogs? 

19:47 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Sure, and I agree with you 100% about breeding. It's something that we're very careful about. We feel very strongly that any dog we breed is our family and we want to make sure that these dogs are happy, healthy and go on to live fulfilling lives. And some of them maybe don't want to work. We figure that out too. So we begin with the breeding and we start with a mother and a father who have special temperaments. Over the years, and all guide dog schools have the same program. We breed out aggression. 

So after 30 years you take a dog and you never breed an aggressive dog. The dogs become softer and softer and softer, to the point where you could jump on our dogs, almost attack our dogs, and they won't bite back. They don't know how to fight back. This makes them perfect for being around children and grandchildren in restaurants and in public spaces. But they are not guard dogs. They're not protecting their client, they’re best friend. They are working guide dogs. 

So we begin with the parents and we breed for a purpose. There's no such thing as one perfect guide dog. There's only the perfect guide dog for you. So if you're a soldier and you're tall and you walk fast, well then we need to breed two dogs that are large, walk  fast, have more aggressive walking tendencies because you want a fast walking dog. If you're a senior citizen woman we breed two small dogs and that are softer and there's quieter and a little slower, and so we are literally matching dogs to people and their personalities. You may be on the waiting list at the top of the list, but the next dog may not go to you if the temperament isn't right. We make a shidduch. It's got to be the right match. So first we begin with the breeding, and Noach's wife, Orna, is our breeding manager and she's an expert in breeding and people all over the world come to her for advice. So Orna breeds the dogs. We breed about 120 dogs a year and again, different sizes, different shapes, different speeds, different temperaments. 

22:04 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

Are they all labs? 

22:06 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Labs and goldens. Our favorite is a golden lab, so matching the lab with the golden is our favorite, and you'll find that around the world labs and goldens are the dog of choice in most guide dog schools. There's still a few shepherds. We've actually bred some shepherds because some of the soldiers want a more manly looking dog, so we want to give them what they want. But labs and goldens are the best. So the dogs are bred, they go out to volunteer families while they're gestating and then they come back for the birth process. All of the puppies are born at our center. They stay with us for eight weeks and during that time we are literally beginning training on the first day with noise and colors and lights and sounds. So we're giving the dogs as many experiences, even as small puppies, before their eyes are even open, to hear vacuum cleaners running, to hear things happening. And what we're trying to do is reduce the dog's stress. So everything we do is to expose them to situations, to things that rock and things that sway, so that when they step on a manhole, cover that rocks oh, it rocks no big deal. This is okay and it doesn't freak them out. We have stairs with different materials. There's wood and glass and plexiglass, and so the dogs are exposed to all of these experiences. So now, two months have passed, they're weaned and now they go out to volunteer families to be raised for the next year. The volunteers we have are amazing. I mean to imagine volunteering to give your heart to this small ball of fur for a year, knowing you're going to have to give it up…not easy to do. We are very unique in that most of our puppy raisers are university students on campus. Now remember, in Israel you don't go from high school to college, you go from high school to the army. So these are not high school kids getting a puppy. These are mature young adults who decide they want to give back and so they raise the puppy for a year. We come to them every month with our. One of our trainers will visit every couple every months, and all along this time they're training for obedience: Don't sit on the furniture. Don't take food from strangers. Only eat when I tell you it's okay to eat. So all of the things you know, left from right, right from wrong, and to go to the bathroom on command. Now that is the one thing most, that usually perks people's ears up. You know how do you go to the bathroom on command? Well, the way you do that is every time the dog relieves itself, and it doesn't matter if it's number one or number two, but every time the dog relieves itself, whoever's nearby says “, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy.” So the sound busy, busy is that is becomes equated with the dog to release. So later, when they're a guide, working, guide dog, the client knows the dog's cycle, feeds the dog and knows in an hour we need to go out. They go out, they take off the harness, they say “busy, busy” and the dog goes right away. It's remarkable. So this is something that's all trained from the beginning. 

Uh, the volunteers teach the dogs for the full for about a year. We bring them back to the center. We have a very, very emotional separation ceremony. Uh, and in Israel there's no such thing as Kleenex. There's no Kleenex in a box. So everybody's carrying a roll of toilet paper and they're crying and it's very emotional to give up this dog. 

I'll never forget. There was one time I went to a separation ceremony and there's this big, burly young man, big beard, big, huge guy, and I went up to him and I said: “You know, thank you so much for volunteering. You know you did a great mitzvah. Will you do this again?” He turns “Oh no, I could never do this again. This is way too hard, uh, to give up the puppy. ”So, uh, these are remarkable, remarkable volunteers who give up their lives, yeah, to help the puppies become social, and they take them on the train, and they take them on the bus and they go to parties. So the dogs are being exposed to all of these various things in this period of time. Now they come back to us. 

26:27 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

Can I ask one question as an aside, because I was in Florida recently. We met a woman who was training a guide dog and she said: “This is my ninth one.” And I had the reaction of oh my goodness, how could you do that? I have two dogs who are four and a half and 11 now. I could never give up a dog after a year. How on earth, even though you're doing the greatest mitzvah and she happened to be Jewish. I didn't use the term mitzvah because I didn't know. She said” Because it's such a mitzvah and I feel so good about it, and I know the dogs are doing such a wonderful thing, and I wouldn't change it.” So do most of the volunteers do this multiple times, or do most do it once or twice? 

27:04 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Most do it once or twice and the reason is that these - remember they're in college. So now they graduate college. And what happens when you graduate college? You start to work and in Israel you work hard. You're working 12, 15, 17-hour days. So this was their last chance to have a dog before they established themselves in a career and then, a few years later, when things settled down, then you get a dog again. 

You know, Tel Aviv is an extremely dog-friendly city. There's lots and lots of people with dogs. So this is just a chance and this is why we love students so much that it's a chance for them to give back. It's a chance for them to give love to the ball of fur. And, by the way, after the dog retires, the first person we go to to see, if the dog isn't going to be kept by the client, is the puppy raiser. So we'll go back to the original puppy raiser who, eight years ago, gave up their dog. Would you like the dog back? Almost always they say yes. 

So the dogs never go unwanted and never, you know so they're in a really different place in their life at that point that's right and they can. They've had eight years, they've established themselves in their lives and and getting a retired guide dog. This is the easiest dog in the world, you know they, they, uh, they're not high energy anymore and they're very well behaved.. 

28:25 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

Can I ask one more question? Do any of them get to see the dog during that period, while the dog is working and with someone who is using it as a guide dog. Or is the idea that they don't see it for those eight or so years in between? 

28:37 t) - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

First of all, they are invited to the graduation. So they come and they meet the client who they connected with. And I've been to these ceremonies as well and there's always trepidation, they're always concerned. Will the dog even remember me? And I've said to them: “Don't worry, when that dog sees you, it's going to come running to you.” And it's almost embarrassing because they're supposed to be with the client and the dogs get so excited to see their puppy raisers and I've never seen it not be a joyful reunion. 

It's up to the client whether or not they become pals and friends. Almost always they maintain a relationship and sometimes our clients travel internationally and don't want to take the dog with them while they travel internationally because it's not so easy. And very often they'll make a relationship with the puppy raiser that the puppy raiser will be the volunteer to keep the dog for the week or so if they're on vacation and can't take their dog with them. Most of the time they take their dog with them, but in the rare instance. So yes, they maintain relationships, but that's gotta be a consensual thing on the client side, our client side. 

So we get back to the puppies, came back to us and they go through a very involved relationship, a rubric and checklist in an evaluation over a two-day period of time. So the dog…in two days we're going to make a decision Are you going to be a guide dog? Are you going to be a PTSD service dog? Are you going to be an emotional support dog? Or are you going to be what we call an ambassador, which is a dog that just doesn't want to work - and we see it, and we're not going to force a dog to do something it doesn't want to do. So luckily we don't have a lot of ambassadors each year, but there are them, and we do offer those dogs to families with children with special needs. So, even though they're not working, they're simply a, they're a wonderful pet. Remember, they're bred, in a very special way, so they're not aggressive. So these are wonderful dogs to have at home and, so again, all of our dogs go to a loving home at some point. 

If you became a guide dog, if you went on the guide dog track, we train you for four months and now you're learning the high level skills.. The highest level skill is intelligent disobedience. I’ll give everybody in radio land a chance to think about that. What is intelligent disobedience? It's where you give a command and the dog makes a decision to disobey. Now, that's hard to do because we want our dogs to obey. When we say “come,” we want the dog to come. When we say “sit.” we want the dog to sit. When we say “cross the road,” we want the dog to cross the road. 

31:29 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

Unless there's a car. 

31:30 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)           

And now the dog makes a decision: “Is it safe for us to go?” So dogs do not understand a red light or a green light. They're not reading colors and the client, when they come to an intersection, uses their ears to decide is it safe to go? We don't want to give a dog a command and make it disobey. So the client listens for the traffic. If the traffic is going across in front of him, he knows he has a red light. If the traffic is coming from behind him and going forward, he knows he has a green light. And that's when he would give the command to go to continue. 

Now there's a couple of things. There's children on bicycles that you don't hear. Electric cars, which are extremely dangerous to people with visual impairments - you don't hear them, they are silent coming up to the intersection. So this is why having a dog is just so important. And takes away the cane. That can't hear, that doesn't understand. So the intelligent disobedience is number one. Critical space is the next thing, next highest level - and this is a dog understands and can run full speed through a hole in a fence, knows exactly how much space is around its body and how much it needs to get by. But now we have to teach the dog to give three feet to the right, and, however tall a client is, so they don't walk into tree branches, they don't walk into signposts, and so the dog allows for the person. And the third high level training is decision-making. We, the dog, needs to make decisions about how to get from point A to point B. I know that the door to the defense ministry is on the corner of that intersection, but what I can't see are all the posts and the barriers and all of the things that are protecting the building. So the dog needs to make decisions about how do I get around these barriers to take my buddy to the door. And so when we're finished, the dog will have about 40 commands in Hebrew. 

Our dogs only understand Hebrew, but they only bark in Yiddish. But they know left from right, they know to the left, to the right, forward, back, find the elevator, find the escalator, take me to my car. And we can continue to train dogs and the client can continue to train their dog to take them to a certain place where they go to work, to the bus stop near their home. So they can give a single command and the dog will take them right to their spot and that's called targeting. 

So if you've got the guide dog track that's four months of training, then we match you with a client on the waiting list. Many of our clients tell us that the dog chooses them, that they don't choose the dog. And we give them a test walk and let them see if their speed and temperament matches. If the answer is yes, the client will come back to our Center, stay with us for three weeks. They live with us and we go out on training every single day, twice a day. And after the end of three weeks, at graduation, we go back to their homes with them for one more week and we work on their four main routes. Again to work, to the bus stop, to the post office, whatever, Whatever their daily life involves. 

And we teach them how to continue that training. 

34:58 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

And someone actually stays with them or goes every day?

35:01 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

We go every day. Wow, yeah, we drive, and Israel being the small country that it is, we are able to commute and maybe stay at a friend's house if it's up in the north or something. 

35:14 – Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

So these dogs work hard very hard. And I know when they're working they wear their vest and when they're not working their vest is off. What do you respond to those people, and there are people who say that this is cruel to dogs, that we're making dogs, who are animals - they're often pets - we're making them work. What's your response to that? 

35:31 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

I want to assure you that these puppies are happy and you know that a dog is happy by its tail position. So when you see a guide dog working and you look at anybody walking down the street with their dog, if the tail is up, if the tail is wagging, you're a happy dog. I want you to also realize that dog is a pack animal. The dog wants to be with other living things and a guide dog is never alone. This dog is with its partner 24-7, seven days a week, 365. They go to work together, they play together, they do everything together. So the dog is never left home eight hours while you go to work. This dog is always with someone, with its person. 

And the other important thing to know is a dog is only working outside from point A to point B. When the harness is on, it's working and it gets me from my home to work safely. When I get to work I take the harness off and he's a dog and he can run and he can play and he can even go around to the co-workers and he's a dog. When he gets home, the harness comes off and he runs in the backyard and he plays with the kids and the grandkids and chases balls and does all the things a dog does. But when you put that harness on, they stand straight, they focus, they know that I am now working and so they're not working that hard. They're not working hours and hours and hours every day, but they are an amazing tool to keep our clients safe and have a loving relationship. So many of our clients are single and live alone, and this is their person, this is their being, and it takes away the loneliness and it gives you a safe mode of transportation. 

37:20 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

So you mentioned before just in passing about when dogs retire. So when a dog retires and you said the client can keep the dog if they want. I imagine in some cases they're getting a new dog depending on where they are in their life, but probably they need a new guide dog. Do most guide dogs do well staying in the home when there's a new guide dog that gets to go out with the client all the time and they still get to be with their person? Or do most do better with the change not being in that environment? . 

37:49 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

First of all, I want you to understand that the decision is the client's decision. It's their dog so they can decide if they have enough space in their home. Now, I just mentioned a minute ago single people. If I'm a single person and I live alone in an apartment, having a second dog is a burden. You got to feed two dogs, you got to walk two dogs and now one of the dogs is going to have to stay home alone while I go out to work. So almost always, if you're a single person living in an apartment, having two dogs is not going to work well in your life/. But it's your choice about where that dog goes. It can go to a family member, it can go to a friend who lives nearby so that you can maintain a relationship, or I don't have anybody special that I I want to give the dog to. We go back to that puppy raiser. Would you like the dog? And again, almost always it goes to that. There's not another option. But there is a long list of volunteers who will take a retired dog if there's nobody else to take it. None of our dogs have ever, ever gone to a shelter. They never will. 

These are perfect, amazing animals thing that happens with the dog. I've been working every day for eight years, Every single day. We get up, the harness goes on me and we go out and we walk together every day and suddenly there's another dog in the house and suddenly the harness is going on him and not me. Some of the dogs have a psychological problem with that, Like what happened? What did I do wrong? You know my chopped liver, you know I don't understand. 

Other dogs are happy to retire. They're tired. They've worked eight years and they're happy to retire. Again, it's up to the client. Many of our clients, if they have a family, they'll keep the dog and have the dog in the home, so it doesn't have to find a new relationship or build a new relationship and then again the others go to other loving homes. So we have found that oftentimes it's better for the dog to leave because psychologically it's not working anymore and it feels that it did something wrong. So taking the dog out of that environment is actually better for the dog. But it's up to the client, it's up to the dog. There's so many variables and we don't we don't force our views on anyone. 

40:06 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

You know it's interesting. You say that about the dog having a hard time and not understanding. I was just talking to someone earlier today about how often it's harder with my dogs than my kids, because I can say to my kids: “I'm going away or this is why,” and you can't explain it to the dogs, they just get stuck with what is, and you know that's exactly what's going on here. Why am I not going out with the vest? They don't understand.

40:30 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Exactly. So, getting back to the training,..so we had the different paths and we already talked about what happens with a guide dog and the special things that a guide dog has learned. But if you're not quite, if you don't quite have the focus, and some dogs like to chase cats and there's not a lot we can do about that. And one thing I didn't mention: we breed cats. Cats live at the Center. Oh, because they live in houses and we have the cats go in and out of the kennels when the puppies are very, very small to be exposed to this cat. So it's not something to chase. 

41:04 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

And there are a lot of stray cats in IsraelThat makes sense. 

41:06 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

So this is another thing that we do to desensitize the dogs, to make them comfortable in their environment. So we have the guide dog training track. But if you're not quite focused enough to be a guide dog, if you become distracted but you're still a great dog, then we can train you to be a PTSD service dog. Now this is a whole new area for us. We started it about, I'd say, six or seven years ago was when we first began. The changes in the clients has been absolutely astounding. Now we're talking about PTSD here, and what is PTSD? It's what's the main problem with PTSD? The main thing is the fear of the bedroom. Believe it or not, you're afraid to go to sleep because when you go to sleep you're going to have a nightmare and you're going to relive this horrible traumatic experience. So what happens is you don't want to go to bed and you don't sleep well, and it's a horrible downward spiral. What we have found is if we can train the dog to wake you, as before, the nightmare has taken full effect as you're becoming anxious. If we can train the dog to wake you and you are comfortable with the idea that this dog will wake me every time that the frequency and intensity of the nightmares goes down on a straight line. It's incredible, and the clients have told us over and over how much of a difference it's made. Now, how does the dog know the sound of breathing? Usually so, if I'm becoming anxious and this is whether I'm awake and having a panic attack while I'm awake or in bed, but and the dog will react to that. Now if I'm sitting in a chair, the dog will jump up and put its paws on me. If I'm laying in bed, the dog will literally jump on top of me, lay his full body weight on my body and lick my face until I wake up and snap them out of it. And that is the number one thing that the dogs have been trained to do. The next thing is to protect your back. So if I'm at the beach and I'm looking at the water, my dog isn't looking at the water. My dog is making sure that nobody sneaks up, nobody comes, approaches me, and if anybody approaches me, the dog alerts me so that I'm not startled. Works great at ATM machines too. And the third thing is to walk a figure eight and create space in front of me. So if we're in a crowded theater, at a bus stop or somewhere where there's a crowd of people and I'm becoming claustrophobic. I don't like all these people around me. The dog walks a figure eight in front of me and creates space. So those are the three main things that we're training a PTSD service dog to do, and again the change has been remarkable. 

Guys who have just been basket cases have snapped out of it, and because the program hasn't been long enough for a dog to retire, we're not sure about whether they'll need another dog in transition or not. But we know that the frequency and intensity of their nightmares has gone down and we know that it's almost a zero. What we don't know is, without the dog, would it still be zero, or is it the comfort of knowing that the dog is there that gives them that? And then? So that's the second highest level. 

And then the third next level is the dog for the children on the spectrum, and we're training the dogs to protect them, to keep them out of this, from wandering away from the family, to break them out of their anxieties. Many of these children cannot be hugged, but they can hug, and so hugging they’re dog and giving love to the dog is a release for them. I had a wonderful story of a mother who said that her child would come home from school every day, run to the dog, lift the dog's ear and tell the dog about its day. Now the mother was heartbroken in a way because the child wasn't telling her about his day, but she was thrilled that he had this new outlet and that he was able to express his emotions to the dog, and so the relationships that this has created. And in Israel we call them “Buddy Dogs,” so dogs for the children are buddy dogs and that's what they are - a friend and a best friend, and they make an incredible difference. 

45:35 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

So, actually, we're going to stop on that note of that personal story, and the good news is that you're going to be back on our next episode, and next episode we're going to actually get to hear more personal stories about the dogs. You said something to me once which was very powerful: that while we talk about the dogs a lot, it's really about the people, and of course, that's what this is about. While these dogs have great lives, as you've reassured us and which I actually do very much believe, it's ultimately about the people they're helping. So, on the next episode you'll share about the people and the communities and the tremendous impact these dogs have, as well as what's been going on since October 7th, 2023. Everything, of course, in Israel has changed, even the work of the Israel Guide Dog Center, so I'm sure that I am not the only one who's anxious to hear about that. So, Mike, thank you so much for being here. 

46:27 - Michael Leventhal (Guest)

Before we break, I would like to invite everybody to the Center. We're just 20 minutes south of Tel Aviv, so when you come to Israel, we would love for you to come see it. It's remarkable to see for yourself. We do ask that you let us know. We are a working school, so we need to know that you're coming and then we can arrange for a wonderful tour. Also, you can visit our website. It's the IsraelGuideDog.org, and we would love to have your support morally and financially and, more importantly than anything, you've just heard a story about a wonderful nonprofit. You didn't know about us before. We're a very well kept secret and Robyn is helping us to try to change that. But tell your friends, let other people know that there's an amazing organization in Israel. We are open to everyone. Any Israeli citizen can come to us and be helped, and we can only do it with the support and love of friends from around the world. So please check us out. Come visit us. 

47:33 - Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host)

And I want to say I don't know if I actually said it before, but I mentioned that I'd been there a couple of years ago. It was definitely a highlight of my trip to Israel. Also, people can do Bar/Bat Mitzvah projects in relation to Israel Guide Dog Center. They have lots of ideas - you don't even have to think of ideas for yourself. The website has lots of other information. 

I would love this to not be a well-kept secret at all. Please tell everyone you know about the Israel Guide Dog Center and thank you all so much for being here, for joining us to hear so much about the history as well as the present of the Israel Guide Dog Center. And please join us for the next episode where, as I said, Mike is going to tell us some stories about people that have really been affected by these dogs, whose lives have been greatly changed. These individuals, as well as their communities, have been changed for the better. And also we'll talk about, since October 7th, some of the newer work that Israel Guide Dog Center is doing. You do not want to miss it. Please join us again. Thank you so much for being with us. 

Rabbi Robyn Frisch (Host) - Conclusion

Hi, again, I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode. If you did. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd give us a five-star rating and follow Mazel Pups on social media. Thanks for listening.