Yishay Ishi Ron, "Dog" (Soncata Press, 2025)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: New Books Network

Episode: Yishay Ishi Ron, "Dog" (Soncata Press, 2025)
Date: February 24, 2026
Host: GP Gottlieb
Guest: Ishai Ishi Ron

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Overview

This episode delves into "Dog," the new novel by Ishai Ishi Ron. Through a candid and personal conversation, the host and author discuss the psychological aftermath of war, focusing on PTSD, addiction, and social invisibility. "Dog" is not a typical war story, but an exploration of what happens to people after conflict—and the complex, overlooked world inhabited by the marginalized. The interview skillfully unpacks the inspirations behind the novel, the nature of trauma, and the potential for hope and redemption amidst despair.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Protagonist and Elite Army Experience

• Host (C) introduces Geller, the protagonist: A former elite combat officer, returned from Gaza, suffering from PTSD, estranged from his family, addicted to heroin, living in squalor, his only companions being a stray dog and other addicts.
• What makes the army unit 'elite':
  • Ishi Ron (B) [02:11]:

    "My unit was special because we were Arabist, meaning we were disguised as Arabs and we were operated in the West Bank... getting to find terrorists and catch them or to do other special assignments."

  • Personal connection: The author also served in such a unit.

Writing "Dog" from a Trauma-Informed Perspective

• Host (C): Geller experiences traumatic flashbacks and profound suffering.
• Ishi Ron [03:02]:

  "Dog was written out of my PTSD... The story is not exactly what I had to go through, but... it is very clearly an addiction. Because I was, I am PTSD and I was addicted... I was very familiar with what Geller went through."

Beyond the War—Focus on Aftermath

• Host (C): Calls it a war novel.

• Ishi Ron [04:27]:

  "I will correct you. It's not a war novel. It's a what happened to us when the war is over... I want people to understand what is PTSD and what are those transparent people around us that no one sees them."

• On "transparency": Outcasts are made 'invisible' by society, whether veterans, addicts, homeless, or others with trauma.

Symbolism of the Dog

• Significance of the dog in Geller’s story
• Ishi Ron [05:49]:

  "The dog was a symbol. It is so hard for him to deal with his friends that died or with the innocent people that he killed... So it was easier for him to concentrate on this poor dog... a stray dog asking for, you know, for affection and for water and food... easier for Geller to sympathize with the dog instead of looking at himself from within and dealing with all the atrocity that he went through."

• Parallel between Geller and the Tel Aviv dog: Both are broken, both are strays—their connection moves the novel forward and enables mutual redemption.

Geller’s Identity and the Spoon Motif

• Origin of the nickname "Geller" and the spoon around his neck
• Ishi Ron [07:24]:

  "Geller was in the 70s. Uri Geller was a mentalist, actually the first mentalist in the world that got famous... bending spoons in front of an audience... when Geller, he reaches the bottom... he sees this old Geller video and he's just trying to practice bending a spoon. And that's why everyone on the street... call him Geller."

The Struggle for Help (And Why Veterans Slip Through the Cracks)

• Host asks why the army system fails Geller
• Ishi Ron [09:00]:

  "This is what basically happens to so many veterans, not only in Israel, by the way... the shame... You are ashamed to admit that you are... this weakness, which is actually not a weakness, it's a... It's an injury exactly like losing an arm or, or a leg. But this is unseen injury. And that's why a lot of soldiers... cannot admit to themselves and to their society that they are suffering."

Progress and Remaining Challenges in PTSD Care

• Recent developments and remaining gaps

• Ishi Ron [11:14]:

  "There's much more awareness of PTSD... Today, the army treats it much more seriously. But still, there's a long way to go, that's for sure."

• Personal anecdote:

  "For instance, I shot a friend in an operation and I didn't even... No one offered me even to discuss it with a psychologist or psychiatrist. Today... the army treats it much more seriously."

Disassociation and Triggers

• Host references a scene where Geller is confused and relives trauma upon hearing footsteps
• Ishi Ron [13:07]:

  "This is called disassociation... there are triggers... You can go on the street and suddenly you hear an exhaust noise from a car and you think it's a shot... it's causing us to... lose connection with reality."

The Character of Doris

• Significance of Doris and origins of the name

• Ishi Ron [15:33]:

  "Israel is a country... full of immigrants... Doris would not be so strange... I love this character."

• Why Doris is so kind; who she's based on

• Ishi Ron [16:01]:

  "I think the Doris... she's PTSD as well... people don't see her like they don't see Geller... She saw him first of all as a human being and not as a drug addict... Doris for me was the lifesaver... In Judaism... tikkun olam... when each of us will do a small thing to correct the society, the world, it would be a better place... that's what I mean when I told you that all of us see those transparent people and a lot of us ignoring them..."

Awards and Next Project

• Recognition for "Dog": Won two Jewish book awards, one for Hebrew translation, one as a book club choice [18:32].
• Next novel:

  "My next book will be out on June. It's called The Girl who Rode the White Lion. It's an epic adventure about Sarah Frank, a girl in the time of... World War II... Inspired by a real family of circus people that hide the Jews during the Holocaust in Germany." [18:51]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [02:11] "My unit was special because we were Arabist, meaning we were disguised as Arabs... getting to find terrorists and catch them or do other special assignments in the West Bank." (Ishi Ron)
• [03:02] "Dog was written out of my PTSD... The story is not exactly what I had to go through, but... very clearly an addiction." (Ishi Ron)
• [04:27] "It's not a war novel. It's a what happened to us when the war is over." (Ishi Ron)
• [05:49] "It was much easier for Geller to sympathize with the dog instead of looking at himself from within." (Ishi Ron)
• [09:00] "You are ashamed to admit that you are... this weakness, which is actually not a weakness, it's a... It's an injury exactly like losing an arm or, or a leg. But this is unseen injury." (Ishi Ron)
• [13:07] "This is called disassociation... it's causing us to think... to lose connection with reality." (Ishi Ron)
• [16:01] "Doris for me was the lifesaver... In Judaism... tikkun olam... when each of us will do a small thing to correct the society, the world, it would be a better place." (Ishi Ron)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:11] – Describing the elite army unit and its unique role
• [03:02] – Author’s personal experiences with PTSD and addiction
• [04:27] – Why "Dog" is not a war novel, but a novel about aftermath and invisibility
• [05:49] – The symbolic importance of the dog
• [07:24] – The Geller nickname and spoon motif
• [09:00] – Why veterans don’t seek help; the role of shame and social invisibility
• [11:14] – Recent improvements in PTSD care and the need for further progress
• [13:07] – Disassociation, triggers, and the daily reality of PTSD
• [16:01] – The character Doris as a model of compassion and tikkun olam
• [18:32] – Details on book awards and future works

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Conclusion

This episode offers a deeply human and unflinching exploration of trauma, recovery, and the power of connection. Ishai Ishi Ron discusses how personal experience and empathy shaped both "Dog" and his broader literary vision—inviting listeners to see the invisible and to consider small acts of kindness as crucial to healing and social transformation.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Welcome to the New Books Network.

[C]

A few devious rays penetrate the cracks between rot festering slats that someone nailed years ago to the spot where shutters should be. They slice through cold, bitter, almost toxic air and accentuate the tiny specks of dust that mingle with pigeon droppings in hidden corners. This is GP Gottlieb, host for New Books and Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network. And today I'm talking to Isha why Is she Ran? About his gripping new novel Dog, based on the harrowing experiences of an elite combat officer who returns from Gaza with post traumatic syndrome, loses track of his family, friends and community, and sinks deeper into a heroin addiction. He lives in filth and decay with only a stray dog and a couple of other addicts nearby. The dog leads him to Doris, an equally broken woman who offers friendship. One day he decides to get clean, but only after one last heroin hurrah. When he wakes up, he's covered in blood, accused of murdering another addict and forced to undergo a painful withdrawal. But he doesn't remember a thing. Hi Ishai, thanks for joining me today.

[B]

Hi Galit, how are you? I'm very honored to join your podcast and to be your guest.

[C]

Thank you. Let's jump in. Your protagonist Geller is a complex person. He was in an elite army unit, as were you. What made it elite or different from all other units in the army?

[B]

There are special units which they specialize in certain elements. Like there's a special unit that goes out of the borders of Israel, fighting in specific places. There's my unit was special because we were Arabist, meaning we were disguised as Arabs and we were operated in the west bank. You know, getting to find terrorists and catch them or to do other special assignments in the West Bank.

[C]

Geller has flashbacks of a Horrible Night in 2012 when he Some of his comrades were killed in Gaza. What can you say about his flashbacks,

[B]

Listen, dog was written out of my ptsd. Also extended from the book itself. On the COVID I find out I'm PTSD many years after I went out of service. So I had psychology. Psychologically, I'm actually very biography. And the book is psychologically biography with me. With my, my, my biography, meaning the story is not exactly what I had to go through, but I understand it is the very, it is the very clearly an addiction. Very clearly. Because I was, I am ptsd and I was addicted for, to drugs for many years. So Geller had flashbacks, as the PTSD veterans usually do. They had. They have nightmares, they have blackbirds, they have disassociations. A lot of them find themselves on the streets around us and in the US as well. You can find a lot of them in the streets. So I was very familiar with what Geller went through.

[C]

This is a novel about war and its effects, but it's like no other war story I've ever read. How did you decide to write this book from Geller's perspective?

[B]

So I will correct you. It's not a war novel. It's a what happened to when. What happened to us when the war is over? Okay. Usually one of us deals with the war itself. And I deal in dog with what happened to people after the war is gone, is gone and over. And that's only to people because the other protagonist is a dog. And I want people to understand what is a PTSD and what are those trans transparent people around us that no one sees them. And it can be a PTSD not only for a veteran, it can be a PTSD for people that are drug addict, homeless, prostitutes on the street. You know, they are all around us and we don't see them. And this is the theme of the book basically to expose people to those outcast people, you know.

[C]

So Geller took two bullets the previous year and he's carrying both physical and mental pain, aside from being a heroin addict. But he can't stop thinking about seeing a dog get shot in the head. Does he think about the dog so he doesn't have to dwell on the friends who died or on his own suffering. Why is he so focused on the dog?

[B]

Well, I think, right, the dog was a symbol. It is so hard for him to deal with his friends that died or with the, the innocent people that he killed when he was serving. So it was easier for him to concentrate on this poor dog that wasn't an Arab dog or a Jewish dog or a Hamas dog. He was just A stray dog asking for, you know, for an affection and for water and food. And he was shot dead. So it was much easier for Geller to sympathize with the dog instead of looking at himself from within and dealing with all the atrocity that he went through. This is basically what made me ride the Gazian dog. The other dog which is the main protagonist, Sir Geller is the Tel Aviv dog which is a dog is also 50s. He has a really rough time growing and, and. And he becomes stray and armless like Geller. And then basically they are. The connection between them is what helps not only the plot in the book to move forward, but it helps them to have some kind of redemption and resilience in what they are both passing, you know, what they are both experiencing.

[C]

Can you say something about the spoon he wears around his neck and why he's called Geller?

[B]

Yeah, Geller was in the 70s. Murray Geller was a mentalist, actually the first mentalist in the world that got famous and he used to. He was very famous in, in bending spoons in front of an audience in tv. And as a child when I saw him, I always thought, wow, you know, if I had this super natural powers and I tried to bend spoons with mind running like so many other kids in, in. In my time. And basically when Geller, he reaches the bottom and he has no apartment and no motorcycle, no girlfriend and no family and he's a drug addict. He has nothing left but to try to save himself. And he cannot deal with saving himself, you know, by. He's addicted, he's ptsd. He looks for some kind of a miracle and he sees this old Geller video and he's just trying to practice bending a school. And that's why everyone on the street, the other drug addicts calling Geller because this is the easy way out since he called. Succeed in bending spoon. I can do anything or, you know.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. You write a lot of details about his heroin addiction. I have some questions. Why doesn't he get help? Doesn't the army know when former soldiers experience the kind of horror he's going through? And why is it so easy for him to slip through the cracks as he tries to erase himself?

[B]

I think that this is what basically happens to so many veterans, not only in Israel, by the way. You can. I read. I read the detailed statistic about the US and it's horrible how many veterans kill themselves each year, how many are living in the streets. And it's the same in Israel, you know, the system improved over the years. And today you cannot compare it to what it was 15 or 20 years ago. But still people are sleeping between the cracks and still people are not getting the help. And by the way, one of the most important thing about PTSD in general, and veterans specifically, is the shame when you are such a strong soldier. You know, you were fighting, you were in special unit, you were, you. You saw yourself as a man, they'd be men, you know, and then suddenly you break to a million pieces and you have a big, you. You have a depression and panic attacks and you wet yourself at night and you wake up screaming and all those horrible manifestations that ptsd, you are, you are ashamed. You are ashamed to admit that you are that this weakness, which is actually not a weakness, it's a. It's an injury exactly like losing an arm or, or a leg. But this is unseen injury. And that's why a lot of soldiers or veterans, they cannot admit to themselves and to their society that they are suffering. And sometimes it just leads them to take their own life. And it's very. And not always it's the fault of the system, but a lot of the time it's also the system. When you host with cut water, canned

[C]

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[B]

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[C]

So what's the hope, what's happening right now? Is there research being done? Is anything changing for addiction?

[B]

I think that there's a lot happening. I think that PTSD is developing research which, you know, there are a lot of new research and a lot of ways to. To deal with ptsd. And I think the sooner is the better. And, and one of the things that, you know, dog in Israel became an account book for veterans and for families with. With veterans with ptsd. And I had parents contact me for advising with their sons and asking how can they treat them. Today there's much more, much more awareness of ptsd. And there's also ways, many various ways to take care of it. Of course, it's not an easy way. You have to take care of it as soon as possible. Meaning. And the army knows that they should take care of it the. Asap. When the. After the war. During the war, if a soldier feels and no that is breaking down, he has to talk about. If he has to get treatments. And I think in my time, for instance, I shot a friend in an operation and I didn't even. No one offered me even to discuss it with, with a psychologist. Or psychiatrist today, I think that the army treats it much more seriously. But still, there's a long way to go, that's for sure.

[C]

Wow, that's heartbreaking. Geller is sometimes confused about where he is. Can you tell the story about when he hears footsteps running behind him and reacts as if he's still at war?

[B]

Yeah, this is called disassociation. And you have the. Usually you have triggers. Every PTSD patient or injury, they know it. When it's even. Let's say it doesn't even have to be from a veteran point of view. It can be from sexual attacks or from a car accident, many, many trauma, which all of us can be suffering. And there are triggers. You know, you were in a car accident and suddenly the lights change and it's trigger for you. The same for veterans. You can go on the street and suddenly you hear an exhaust noise from a car and you think it's a shot or you. In a crowded place. For my unit, for instance, we were in many, many times in a crowded place, surrounded by hostile environment. And for us to be in a crowded place, it's a trigger. And some of the disassociations, it's causing us to think that to lose for a second or for a minute or for few minutes to lose connection with reality. You are not sure where you are, and you can just lose awareness where you are. And you should just sit down in the place, even if it's in the city, and, you know, take a moment to yourself and. And until you feel a little better and you can understand where you're. Where you are or how to go home or how to drive or whatever. So this is what Galef. It happens to him. It's. Sometimes it can happen just as a panic attack, you know, a glance of memory or noise of smell. If you smelled your. Your friend burned in. In a tank. So you can, you know, even a smell of. Of barbecue can. Can get it out and. And make you have those flashbacks.

[C]

Let's talk about Doris. I'm assuming her name is Dorit.

[B]

No, no, Doris.

[C]

Doris. Doris. She's also. Okay, is that a name that people. That's a name.

[B]

It is a name. And Israel is a. Is a country with. Full of immigrants from many, many countries. So Doris would not be so strange in Israel. And. Yeah, and I love this character. I love her.

[C]

She's also lonely and she's on the edge of society. Why is she so kind and giving and not judgmental? And who is she based on?

[B]

I think that. I think the Doris Was she's PTSD as well. And the reader will know why when he reads the book. And she's ptsd and she's, as you said, at the edge of society. She's transparent too. People don't see her like they don't see Gala. That's why it was easy for her to connect with Gala, because she doesn't. She saw him first of all as a human being and not as a drug addict even before she knew he was an officer in the army and he's good looking man. And she immediately connected with him on the most humanized channel because she's same as a human. And Doris for me was the lifesaver. You know, as people, all of us, you know, there's. In Judaism there's. There's a term tikkun olam. And tikkun olam say that when each of us will do a small thing to correct the society, the world, it would be a word correction. The world would be a bit. Be a better place. And it can be just from smiling to someone or. And that's what I mean when I before when I told you that all of us see those transparent people and a lot of us ignoring them, they are calling the police instead of calling Social Security, or they close up the window instead of giving them something to eat or at least talk with them and giving them a nice word. And a lot of them are none of us, none of them choose to be in this place. Okay? Even if it's not a veteran, if it's just another trauma, ruined family, beating parents, prostitute, mom. Anything can cause us to be traumatized in a way that we will find ourselves in the edge of society and transparent. So I think Doris was there to show us how it's possible to save souls, lost souls, and to help other people. Even if you're not so dramatic. Not all of us can have to be like Doris.

[C]

So this book dog just won, I think. Today the news came out two Jewish book awards, one in Hebrew translation and one as a. A book club choice. So that's amazing. Congratulations. What's next for you is Shai. What are you working on?

[B]

Thank you. Thank you, Galit. First of all, it was amazing, amazing news and I'm so excited and I'm grateful for the Jewish Book Council for this really great honor. Two categories is very rare and it's amazing. And my next book will be out on June. It's called the Girl who Rode the White Lion. It's an epic adventure about Sarah Frank, a girl in the time of the of World War II in the time of the Holocaust, hunted by an SS officer on two timelines which combined at the end and Nazi SS Nazi ring which are found in an autopsy done to a lion in the Central Park Zoo. And it's all connected together. It was I was inspired by a real family of circus people that hide the Jews during the Holocaust in Germany. And it's a I think it's an amazing book. I love it and we got actually already some good vibes from people who read it and I'm very excited for it.

[C]

Congratulations. It sounds wonderful and thank you for joining me today. It's been a pleasure.

[B]

Thank you so much to you. Really Galit. Thank you. And let's meet on the next book.

[C]

And thank you for joining me again. This is G.P. gottlieb, author of the Whipped and Sipped mystery series and host for New Books and Literature, a podcast channel channel on the New Books Network. Today, I've been talking to Ishai Ish Ron about his powerful new novel Dog. Hope you all have something powerful to cuddle up with today. And always happy reading.