“Let us not underestimate the courage they showed at death, and let us not forget the heroic and courageous deeds they did in life. They performed the tasks given to them out of a desire to win, and fought alongside their comrades. Despite obstacles, dangers and pressure, they persevered. They are the ones who demonstrate, impeccably, the essence of friendship and sacrifice.”

Such eulogies normally follows the deaths of soldiers, and are carved on plaques or tombstones in military cemeteries. This time, too, they appeared in a military cemetery — the cemetery for dogs, members of the Oketz canine unit.

Oketz was established 40 years ago by Yossi Labock, who became its first commander. Since then, its work has expanded constantly. The unit’s first mission was against terrorists who had abducted hostages at Misgav Am in 1980 (when the unit received its official name).

Oketz’s unique nature is obvious. Its highly trained dogs can attack, assist in manhunts and locate explosives. Its members, made up of teams of a soldier and a dog, take part in every operational activity of the army. This makes the members’ training longer and more complex; they must adapt to combat under all conditions and in all kinds of terrain, and learn the characteristics of every force they work with — and, of course, they must learn how to work closely with their canine partners.

Army officials recognize Oketz’s importance and invest a great deal in it. Its base is meticulously well-kept, and the dogs enjoy hotel-like conditions: an exercise room, clean and spacious kennels, an advanced veterinary clinic where they are examined regularly to keep them in excellent health. The cemetery has a monument at the entrance depicting a soldier hugging his dog.

Basic training for dogs

The first challenge facing the Oketz unit’s commanders is understanding how dogs and soldiers fight together.

“We look at a system that combines the combat soldier, the dog and the unit. Those are the three parameters,” says the unit’s commander, Lt. Col. Ariel Ben-Dayan. The process is a long one.

The soldier gets his canine partner only after 10 months. The dog receives professional training for eight months. Most of the dogs are imported from abroad. They are tested for their abilities and potential even before they arrive in Israel to prevent an overabundance of candidates. Strength, focus and discipline are the determining factors. Dogs who pass muster are marked for specific purposes: manhunts, attack or identifying explosives.

Ben-Dayan explains: “How do I choose soldiers? I run a team-building session. Out of a hundred, I choose 10. Now, with great sorrow, I tell the other 90 that they were not good enough, that they were not right for me. It is the same with the dogs, but if I had to choose only 10 good ones out of a hundred, what would I do with the other 90? Someone has to feed them. Someone has to take care of them.”

After the basic stage, the dogs are given comprehensive medical examinations (x-rays and dental exams, eye exams to check for cataracts, and blood tests to determine the percentage of lipids) that determine their physical state. Only then do they arrive in Israel and begin the most basic work, and every few months they are tested to determine their fitness and suitability. The preliminary training is given by professionals (soldiers being trained for Oketz have not yet been taught how to train dogs). At that stage, the dog begins basic training — boot camp in every way.

After 10 months of waiting, a soldier has his first meeting with his dog, who has already learned the basic commands (sit, heel and so on). Together, they go through the complicated training and study that enables the soldier to work with the dog and the dog to become a fighting machine. The dog’s training is Pavlovian in nature — only positive reinforcement and a great deal of love bring him to a high level.

Every dog is suited to a specific task. Ben-Dayan provides an example: “The world of explosives requires a great deal of study. You have to learn how to train a dog to locate explosives. You have to understand the dimensions of sterility, resolution, breaking the dog’s routine, conditioning and giving the dog encouragement. Each dimension is another kind of training, another level, another layer, and if you try to introduce attacking during all that, you will harm the dog.”

The relationship between the soldiers and the dogs is amazing. Most of them even go away on vacation together, for short weekends or a week-long furlough. The strength of the relationship can be seen in the way the soldier and the dog look at each other. Each knows that his life depends on the other.

“I trust him with my life. That is actually the goal with dogs. During training, you and your dog need to reach a point where you trust him in everything he does,” says E., a soldier in Oketz, a few minutes after he and his partner join a team from another army department for a field operation.

“Today, I can move troops to a particular place with complete confidence after T.G. [the dog] has checked it. I know him, and I know exactly what his abilities are, exactly what he can do. … I trust him implicitly.”

Oketz’s dogs prove themselves time and time again. In most cases, the public never even finds out about their heroism. But there is no lack of instances in which a dog from Oketz saved a whole force from a booby-trapped area.

If something goes wrong on a mission and one of the dogs is hit, the army’s supreme value — never to leave wounded soldiers behind — applies to the dog as much as it does to the soldier. The dog’s partner and fellow soldiers will do everything in their power to save him. That is why the soldiers receive training in canine first aid from professionals. Standing orders to that effect are part of the regulation equipment given to every soldier in the unit.

Unfortunately, not every rescue attempt is successful. When the worst happens and a dog is killed in action, it is buried with ceremony in the base’s cemetery.

Wearing their berets, their eyes filled with tears and their words warm, the soldiers bury their fallen comrade. It is exactly like the lyrics of the well-known Hebrew song by Moti Hammer, “One Human Tapestry”: “If one of us goes away, something dies within us — and something stays with him.”