Michelle Bowman, ARC/GNY Assistant Director of Training and Logistics, writes about her historic trip to Israel to work as an MDA Ambulance Responder.

After passing the practical exam we had finished our formal training, but on Tuesday we returned to the Givat Ram hostel for one last group outing—a visit to the Israeli veterinary hospital with a stop at the police dog training site. Nobody was quite certain why these two particular sites had been chosen, but we were looking forward to one last meeting as a group before we moved on to our more independent volunteering assignments.

The veterinary hospital is located outside Tel Aviv, so we boarded the bus around 9 am and everyone in the group promptly fell asleep. It had been an exhausting week, and we were looking forward to some down time. We arrived to an attractive building that looked like any normal hospital—except all of the patients in the lobby were dogs of all shapes and sizes. As we ascended to the second floor the unmistakable aroma of a veterinary office—chemicals mixed with dirty, wet animal—wafted over us. At least this would be good preparation for some of the unpleasant smells that might confront us while volunteering.

We got a tour of the veterinary hospital, including the huge horse surgery room, and we got to see a fair number of cats and dogs. The visit was interesting, but mostly a nice opportunity for us to wander around and chat one last time. After the veterinary office we drove to the police compound where the sound of barking dogs overwhelmed us. As we sat in a gazebo waiting for our guide to arrive, we watched the rows of penned dogs jumping in the air with excitement about the visitors. Our favorite dog wore an American FBI t-shirt and constantly ran around in tight little circles. He had an amazing ability to jump about 5 feet in the air, a skill that he exhibited on a frequently.

This highlight of the visit was the drug searching demonstration. Our police guide told us how they train these dogs to search for both drugs and bodies. He then pulled out a case of different drug samples, including marijuana, hashish and cocaine. We thoroughly enjoyed hiding these packets of drugs in a large field and then watching the dogs find them.

After a quick dog CPR demonstration (where I picked up some useful tips for our new Pet First Aid class in New York), we quickly ate some less-than-exciting sandwiches packed by the hostel cafeteria and headed back to the bus. At this point the bus was going to drive around Israel and drop everyone off at their respective stations. Those of us heading back to Jerusalem would have to bid good-bye to the others and get on a separate minibus. It was odd saying good-by to these people—we had spent so much time together, but we had only known each other for a week. After some vague promises to call when we were in their town, we hopped in our minibus for the short drive back to Jerusalem. The MDA training program was officially over. It was time for us to start work.