Wounded IDF Veterans Face Service-Dog Backlog

Veterans recognized by the Defense Ministry are waiting months for service dogs while a district committee has not convened for a month and a half, according to a Wednesday report. A reserve combat officer with PTSD said the dog would help him get up, leave home and manage anxiety attacks, and Dr. Rotem Sivan of Ima Era called the delay paralysis for wounded soldiers. The Rehabilitation Department said the bottleneck stems from a shortage of trained dogs, with about 470 patients currently using service dogs and about 300 more waiting for a dog to complete training. Official Ministry of Defense documents show the PTSD service-dog framework and wider postwar rehabilitation strain, reinforcing Israel's duty to turn care for wounded fighters into fast, practical support.