(lively music) - Welcome to Forum 360 for a Zoom edition of our Global Outlook with a Local View.

I'm Leslie Ungar, your host today.

Mahatma Gandhi told us, when there is love, there is life.

Through the love of an animal, an organization in Israel gives life to Israelis as the only certified guide dog center in the Mideast.

I met some of these amazing dogs and the people they assist here in this country.

Then, I had the opportunity to see the facility in Israel, and even meet some of the puppies, the people whose lives they change, and the people who bridge that change for the dogs and their owners.

The Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind is dedicated to improve the quality of life for visually impaired Israelis.

The center provides emotional support dogs for children on the autism spectrum, and others with special needs, guide dogs for people who are visually impaired, and PTSD service dogs for veterans and soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Most importantly, these dogs and the humans who train them transform lives.

To hear more about the center is Michael J. Leventhal, executive director, Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind as our guest today.

Welcome, welcome to Forum 360.

- Oh, thank you, Leslie.

It's such a pleasure to be with you and everybody out there.

- You know, before I go any further, I realize, when I talk about Israelis, I imagine that many people in our audience think I'm only talking about Jewish people, but when we're talking about Israelis and Israelis getting dogs, they don't necessarily all have to be Jewish people, do they?

- No, blindness does not discriminate and neither do we.

So, we've had Christian Arabs, Muslim Arabs, Drews, anybody who's a citizen in the state of Israel can get a dog from us.

- Okay, then let's start there.

Why is there a need in Israel, and you are the only certified center in the whole Mideast, why is there a need for guide dogs and a center for the blind?

- Well, blindness affects every country.

There's many people who have RP, which is retinitis pigmatosis, the major reason for people who do go blind.

But, unfortunately, in Israel, we've had terrorism and war.

And, so there's a greater number of people who become injured and need a guide dog.

Before we even started, the only way you could get a guide dog was to come to Jerusalem and pass an English test.

And, if you spoke English well enough, then you got to go to America to get a dog.

Very, very difficult.

And, so that's why it's so important to have a dog that's born, and bred, and trained in Israel, so they understand the environment.

- So, then let me ask you, are the dogs trained in one language?

Is it Hebrew or are they trained in multiple languages?

- They're trained in Hebrew.

- Okay.

- The dogs know about 40 commands in Hebrew, but they only bark in Yiddish.

- Thank you for that.

Now, I have to ask this question.

With all the wonderful nonprofits in the world, in this country, in our Northeast Ohio world, why should our audience care about a center for the blind in Israel?

- There are millions of wonderful organizations around the world.

And, I struggle with people who wonder, why yours over that one, or even at home when we're trying to make decisions about who to give to.

So, you go to the things that touch your heart.

For us, it's like three pronged stool.

If you love Israel, if you love helping people with disabilities, and you love dogs, then we're a perfect match for you.

We use the humane treatment of animals to help people.

And, it's so profound.

It's such an amazing thing to see the dogs working down the street, the people walking independently, and we changed lives.

So, there are many organizations you can support.

I encourage you to support more than one, but we're a good one.

And, by the way, on Charity Navigator and GuideStar, you'll see we're among the highest rated nonprofits in the country.

So, you know the money is being spent wisely.

- Now, when you talk about the need for it, can you tell us, I mentioned some different reasons that people may need a dog, but, statistically, what are the biggest reasons that somebody would need a guide dog?

- It depends on your needs.

First of all, I'd like everybody to understand that most people who are legally blind are not totally blind.

So, in order to get a guide dog, you need to be pretty much totally blind.

You must rely on the dog to take you from curb to curb, to stop when it thinks it's the appropriate time to stop.

If you can see a little too much and you stop before the dog thinks you should, the dog will say, oh, you don't need me.

I'm gonna stop working now.

And, that really happens.

The dog will stop working if it feels that you don't need him or her to do the job.

So, it's important for people to be more blind than not.

The people who get a dog need to walk at least two kilometers a day, which is a little over a mile.

So, if you're in a wheelchair, or if you're elderly, and you can't keep up that kind of a pace, then you can't get a dog, because the dog needs exercise.

It needs to stay healthy.

So, it's really who needs the dog to get on with life.

Many people go back to college, they learn a new trade.

They become therapists, many become physical therapists.

So, the dog can take them back to school.

They can be independent.

We won't give you a dog if you come and say to us, I'm lonely, I'm bored.

I just need to go to the park once a day and be with a dog.

Unfortunately, the demand is far too great.

And, you won't get on our waiting list if you say that.

- Do you say yes to more people or no to more people?

- No to way more people unfortunately.

There's 24,000 legally blind people in Israel.

Now, these are the registered legally blind.

The Center for the Blind thinks the number's closer to 40,000.

We only produce about 35, 36 guide dogs per year.

The demand is far greater than the supply.

Again, not everybody wants a guide dog, but we...

There's a long waiting list.

It's over a year and a half to get your first guide dog.

- Now, what is the correct way to refer?

Do we say blind?

Do we say visually impaired?

What's the correct way to refer to your people that are getting dogs?

- They are blind.

If you are totally blind, then you are blind.

If you're visually impaired, you have some level of eyesight still.

It's no...

There is no magic correct way to do it.

And, it's funny.

A lot of people get very nervous around a blind person.

They don't know what to say.

And, you'd normally say nice to see you.

And, oh, my God, did I say something wrong?

And, it's so typical when our clients meet, one will say to the other, oh, it's great to see you.

Oh, good to see you.

Did you lose some weight?

It's fun.

And, it's... And, you don't have to be afraid to speak to somebody who's blind.

They know the jokes too.

- Well, I had an aunt that unfortunately she passed away her hundredth year, she wanted to make it to her hundredth birthday, but she made it to her hundredth year, and she was legally blind, but she could still see, I guess, shadows.

And, I would stop and see her, and she'd say, oh, you've lost weight.

And, I would say, Aunt Bess, you're blind.

How do you know that I lost weight?

And, we kind of would have fun with it as you said, which is something I had forgotten about that you could have fun with it.

- All of our clients have a sense of humor.

They're all human beings.

And, they're accomplished people.

In fact, I think it's very interesting that our clients all are doers.

And, so it's not poor, oh, woe is me.

I'm blind and I can't do anything.

Anybody who comes and gets a guide dog did so because they wanted to get on with life.

And, we have mountain climbers.

We have scuba divers.

Now, they don't scuba dive with the dog.

We have runners.

We have people competed in the marathon.

It's an incredible group of people.

And, I'm humbled, because I'm a couch potato for the most part, to see these people getting on with life, it's just so heartwarming.

- Now, is there... Do they come to be blind by more because of war, or terrorist attacks, or because of medical condition, or being born blind?

Is there a percentage?

How do they become blind?

- 17% Of our clients were wounded in action in the military or through some level of trauma, car accident, head trauma, but 17%.

The rest are blind from either a birth situation.

They still have blindness from children who get too much oxygen when they're born in an incubator.

So, that still goes on.

And, my daughter's a pediatrician.

And, I said to her, isn't there some way to fix that?

And, she said, well, would you rather have a baby who's breathing or a baby who isn't?

And, so we would rather have a blind baby who's alive.

And, so, even to this day, there's still people who go blind in an incubator, but mostly it's people who go blind slowly later in life.

Many of our clients are 50 and above and they get tunnel vision first and the field slowly, slowly narrows to the point where they need a dog to get around.

- Now, if a majority of your people are over 50, is that a reason that, and we see behind you the Labradors, right?

- [Michael] Yes.

- Is that why you raise the Labradors rather than say a German Shepherd or what we think of as a bigger, stronger, I mean, Labrador are strong, but is that because of the people that you service?

- It's, Labradors of the number one dog of choice for all guide dog schools around the world now, Labrador and Goldens.

Golden Retrievers are other wonderful dogs.

Our favorite dog is the first cross between a Lab and a Golden.

The Golden Lab is our first choice.

- Because... - Well, the Golden is very independent and very intelligent.

And, the Lab just wants to please.

Put those two things together, and it's really the perfect dog.

The Labs are large dogs, and, by the way, we do breed for purpose.

So, if we have a group of senior citizen women, we'll take a soft male and a soft, smaller female, and we'll make them, and have smaller, softer dogs.

If we have a group of soldiers coming through, you're gonna mate an alpha male and an alpha female, larger dogs.

And, that's so it's a different personality type as well.

Just because you're on our waiting list doesn't mean you're gonna get the next dog that's available.

We match the dogs.

We make a shidduch.

- Okay, but, wait a minute, before you say we match the dogs and we make a shidduch which is a Yiddish word for making a match, right?

- [Michael] Correct.

- Does the dog pick the person or do people pick the dog?

- We select a couple of dogs that we think might be appropriate for speed and temperament with a client.

And, then the clients come and we'll walk with a couple of the dogs and just see which one works best.

So many of our clients tell me the dog picked them when they get to that stage, that they just match the dog, ran to them, licked their face.

And, they just knew that this was their dog.

And, I can't tell you how many times people have told me, my dog picked me.

- I won't even ask you whether you picked your wife or your wife picked you.

- Thank you for that.

Actually, our friends put us together, so... - Now, can you tell us about the role you use, puppy walkers, puppy raisers.

- Yes.

What happens is the puppies are born and stay with us for the first eight weeks.

They wean from their mother.

And, by the way, during that eight weeks, they're in our puppy kindergarten, where we expose them to lights, and sounds, and colors, and things that rock, and things that sway.

We're trying to give them as many experiences as possible to reduce their stress, that's our goal, so that when they come across these things in real life, oh, something rocked under my feet, and it's okay, I'm fine.

I'll be able to continue on.

So, we wanna reduce the dog's stress.

So, we do a puppy kindergarten.

At seven to eight weeks, we find volunteer puppy raisers.

Most of our puppy raisers are university students on campus in Israel.

Now, you have to remember that, in Israel, you go from high school to the army.

So, then you have two to three years in the army and then you go to college.

So, we're not talking about young immature kids.

We're talking about young adults who've seen the world a bit.

They raised the puppies for one year and teach lessons all along during that year, under the supervision of our staff.

So, they learn to always walk on the left on a short leash, never take food from a stranger.

Don't jump on the furniture, don't bark, and to go to the bathroom on command.

All of these things are trained by our puppy raisers.

And, then, a year later, they come back to us for evaluation.

- I'm gonna stop right there for just a moment.

I wanna reintroduce our topic today.

We are having both a verbal and kind of a visual tour of a location in Israel, the Israel Guide Dog Center.

And, we are having that with the executive director, Michael Leventhal.

How many of them, your puppies, make it into the program after that year?

- It's depends on the year.

It's been a tough year, because of COVID.

COVID affected our graduation rate.

It's very interesting.

I think people would be interested to know, we're exposing the puppies to trains, and buses, and restaurants, and cafes, and parties, and going to classes.

And, all of these things are exposing the puppy to different activities throughout that year of growth.

During COVID, in the shutdown, the students were only allowed to go out, let the dog relieve itself and come back to the apartment.

And, they missed all of those social activities.

So, we did have a slight downturn in the number of dogs that graduated to guide dog training.

Very disappointed in that, but it was something beyond our control.

And, I think everybody can understand that COVID affected the world and our dogs adversely.

- But, for dog lovers everywhere, those dogs still found good homes.

- Oh, absolutely.

None of our dogs have ever been not in a good home.

We've never had a dog go to a shelter ever, even in retirement.

So, no, these are amazing, amazing animals that do perform tasks.

So, as you... To get back to your question, 35 graduated onto guide dog training, but then we had 10 become PTSD service dogs for soldiers with emotional trauma.

And, we had 43 go to children on the autism spectrum.

So, most of the dogs go out to people in need and for serving a purpose.

There are some dogs that show us they don't wanna work, that they just don't have it in them.

They like to chase cats, they like to lay around, and they just don't wanna work.

We do not force a dog to work.

Those dogs typically go back to the puppy raisers who were raising them, who almost always welcome them with open arms, or we have a large list of volunteers who want those puppies that don't make it into training.

We call them our ambassadors.

So, at all, the dogs do not go to waste.

- Well, now, have you ever had... And, I would think just statistically with the numbers that you go through your center every year, have you ever had a dog that is given and trained with its blind person, and a month, a year later, it doesn't work out?

- We have.

And, unfortunately, there was a case with an Arab client, the Arab client loved the dog.

He was a professor, college professor, and he took the dog back to his village, and he was so excited to be independent, and take the bus, and do things independently, but in the Arab community, a dog is dirty and doesn't belong in the home.

And, what he found was that he wasn't welcome.

The taxi wouldn't stop to pick him up.

He wasn't welcome in his friend's homes anymore.

His friends didn't wanna come to his home anymore.

And, he came to us and said, I'm heartbroken.

I love this dog, but my community is ostracizing me because of the dog, and I just can't.

And, he brought it back.

A very, very sad case.

We have had issues with dogs becoming sick, just like humans.

They get cancer, they get a joint problem.

And, so there are times that they have to retire early and we have to replace them as soon as we possibly can.

- Now, how does the center stay in touch with the dog after its initial training and it goes home?

Is there a program in the aftermath?

- Yes, we do puppy follow up with every client at least once a year.

We try to do it twice a year.

And, many times, we don't let the client know we're there.

So, we see them come out of their home.

We've watched the team walking down the street.

We're making sure that the dog is following a straight line, stops at the curb appropriately, waits for commands to go forward.

So, we're watching the team and making sure that they're working well together without even touching them.

Now, at any time, a client can call and say, I'm having a problem.

I'm not sure.

Maybe, the dog has an ear infection.

Could you come take a look?

And, because Israel's so small and our staff is so willing, we will show up immediately, and take a look at the dog, evaluate the situation, and help out whenever needed.

But, we're committed to these dogs from the time they graduate until the time they retire.

- I'm curious about wording that I came upon on your website, intelligent disobedience.

So, a dog is taught to disobey a command that will place their partner, which I think is interesting wording, their partner, in jeopardy.

So, can you tell us a little bit about intelligent disobedience?

- Absolutely.

There are three things that a dog learns, that a guide dog learns that your pet doesn't know.

Intelligent disobedience is the number one thing.

And, as you so clearly pointed out, it's to disobey, it's to decide when to obey a command.

So, a client will go, the dog is trained to work on a straight line from curb to curb.

So, the dog will go as straight as they can from one curb to the next, and they'll stop at the next curb.

The client listens for traffic.

This is how a blind person knows if it's safe to travel.

If the traffic is going this way, they know they have a green light.

If the traffic is going in front of them, they know they have a red light.

So, they're not asking the dog, they don't want the dog to have to disobey.

So, they're listening.

They hear it's no traffic or they hear the traffic moving in the way they want.

They say kadema, which is forward in Hebrew, and the dog then makes a decision.

Is it safe for us to cross or is it not?

And, if it's not safe, the dog simply won't go, and they'll wait for the next car to pass.

The other thing they learn is critical space.

A dog can run through a fence at full speed in a hole just big enough for it.

So, we have to teach it to allow for a person, three feet wide and five, six feet tall.

So, the dog judges height as well as width.

And, finally, the other thing is problem solving.

In Israel, there are security barriers everywhere.

And, so the person knows, okay, I'm going to the bank.

It's three blocks this way, I turn right, it's two blocks, and the bank is on the right, but now I gotta get in the front door.

So, you give the command to go to the front door.

The dog has to work around the security barriers until the person can enter the front door.

- [Leslie] That's fascinating.

- It's amazing.

- Now, how long are they together being trained at the center?

- The client.

The dog, when it comes back at a year for evaluation, if it goes into guide dog training, it's five months of very intensive training.

And, then, when we match them with a client, the client comes to us, stays with us for three weeks... - [Leslie] Three weeks.

- And, an additional week in their home.

So, altogether, it's a month of training with a client.

- Now, I remember at your center, the color yellow.

Now, tell... Because, that's one thing that stuck with me, so tell us about the color yellow, why that is important to a blind or sight impaired person.

- Yellow is the last color typically lost by most of the people who go blind.

- [Leslie] So interesting.

- So, if you see in our... All over our center, we have a yellow line through our sidewalk.

In our dorms, for example, we have very dark baseboard and very light floor.

So, it's the contrast.

A lot of people who are blind can pick up the contrast.

And, so that's why we have the yellow.

And, you may have noticed the bumps in the ground, bumps in the ground tell somebody they're at a transition, that they can go left, right, straight, or it's near a curb.

That's why the bumps are at a curb.

So, they know when they step on the bumps, something's...

I need to make a decision.

I'm either gonna stop or I'm gonna turn, but I'm at the end of the walk.

- In our remaining minutes, I'm gonna ask you for two or three word answers.

- [Michael] Sure.

- What surprised you most about the center when you got involved?

- How much the dogs make people more social.

- And, what would surprise us, if we came to the center, what would surprise us most about the center?

- I think you'd be amazed by how immaculate it is.

- [Leslie] Yes, it is.

It is.

- And, how we care for the dogs.

People don't...

Some people in PETA, for example, think you shouldn't make a dog work, but these dogs are not being worked.

They love what they do.

- I showed horses for a very long time.

And, when I was a little girl, I got some of the best advice I ever got that everyone has to work for a living, and a horse is included.

And, so I... Then, I didn't feel sorry when I saw him get all sweaty, you know?

So, I think it's okay if a dog works for a living.

- Oh, the main thing people need to know is a guide dog is never left alone.

You leave your pet dog alone eight hours while you go to work.

A guide dog is never alone and a dog is a pack animal.

So, it's always with its owner.

It's always happy.

And, by the way, it's only working outside from point A to point B.

When you get to the office, you take off the harness, and he's a dog, or at home, he's a dog.

And, he plays with your kids and he has fun.

Put on the harness, they focus and it's time to go to work.

- How many times have you been to Israel?

- I get to go twice a year.

So, I've been numerous times.

- To many viewers, they may only know Israel from terrorist attacks or what they see on the nightly news.

In two or three words, what would you like someone to know about Israel that's never been there?

- You've gotta come.

It is the safest place.

- Best beaches in the world, right?

- It's incredible how many people tell me, are donors, tell me, oh, it's...

I'm a little worried.

It's always in strife.

No, it isn't.

New York, Philadelphia, far more scary than Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.

You've just gotta see it for yourself.

- Now, you did, or Mark Spitz, the Olympian, did a podcast for you.

And, in one or two words, what was the takeaway from Mark's Spitz?

- His pride in being Jewish and his pride in helping others.

- [Leslie] Okay, what gives you hope?

- Seeing our clients get on with life.

And, anytime I go to Israel, that's...

It just reinvigorates me to see them getting on with life and living a full and active life on their own.

- Thank you.

If you remember one thing from our conversation today, perhaps it will be the miracles that happen every day in a place 6,000 miles from Cleveland.

Perhaps it will be that at the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, the dog actually chooses its person rather than people choosing their dog.

Perhaps you'll remember the close bond that develops between a visually impaired person and their guide dog.

Perhaps you will remember the importance of intelligent disobedience.

Today, we have shared a global phenomenon.

Perhaps you will wanna visit the website or visit the center as I was able to do.

We thank our guest today, Michael Leventhal, for joining us.

I'm Leslie Ungar.

Thank you for joining us on Forum 360 for your Global Outlook with a Local View.

- [Narrator] Forum 360 is brought to you by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Akron Community Foundation, Hudson Community Television, the Rubber City Radio Group, Shaw Jewish Community Center of Akron, Blue Green, Electric Impulse Communications, and Forum 360 supporters.