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Pawsitive Technology is a graduate of the INNOFENSE Innovation Center operated by iHLS in collaboration with IMoD. This unique acceleration program removes entrance barriers to the technological ecosystem, turning startups into mature, leading companies while connecting them with relevant investors, which is designed to strengthen the links between the civilian and defense markets via the collaborative development of the technologies, thus advancing and improving their integration in both markets.
Across defense, rescue, medical, and rehabilitation systems, dogs perform tasks that neither humans nor machines can truly replace. They detect explosives, locate missing persons, identify medical emergencies, assist people with disabilities, and much more. Yet despite their operational and human value, the selection and training processes for working dogs have long lagged behind – remaining manual, subjective, and prone to errors.
The consequences of today’s screening methods are significant: 40%–70% of dogs drop out of training, sometimes only after an investment of approx. $40,000 per dog. Assistance-dog organizations face 3-5-year waiting lists, and security bodies suffer from chronic shortages of suitable dogs. At the same time, dogs working for years in high-stress environments rarely receive systematic monitoring, negatively affecting both their welfare and their operational performance.
In the United States alone, there are 550,000 active working dogs, with 55,000 new dogs entering selection pipelines each year. Training costs can reach $100,000 per dog or more.
The business opportunity is estimated at $660 million for the selection phase and $1.1 billion for ongoing monitoring (2.2 million tests per year).
In practice, every accurate assessment can save up to $40,000 per dog, while significantly reducing wait times for both service and operational dogs.
This is where Pawsitive Technology comes in—offering an AI-based system for objective, rapid, and highly accurate prediction of suitability and performance. The platform represents a paradigm shift: evaluating and predicting a dog’s potential for specific roles using behavioral analysis and machine learning, rather than intuition and human judgment alone.
The company combines scientific research on canine behavior, accumulated experience from security and rehabilitation organizations, and advanced algorithmic capabilities. The assessment process itself is simple and non-invasive: the dog enters an empty room, then the same room with identical bowls, and finally the same space with three identical bowls and one new bucket. A single GoPro camera records the dog’s behavior for about 15 minutes. The video is then uploaded to a secure cloud and analyzed by the company’s algorithm, which examines hundreds of parameters—speed, distance, freezing patterns, navigation, searching, anxiety indicators, attention, motivation, and more. It then generates a standardized score tailored to the dog’s breed, age, and intended profession.
Using historical data from hundreds of previously tested dogs, the system can compare each dog to an appropriate reference group, identify role suitability, detect early signs of stress or behavioral decline, and alert organizations when a working dog may require intervention. A major advantage is speed: instead of a traditional evaluation process that takes days (depending on the professions), Pawsitive’s test takes just 15 minutes.
Beyond accuracy and efficiency, the technology delivers both operational and welfare benefits. The system can detect in advance when a security dog needs a break—before performance deteriorates. This capability is critical for organizations whose dogs work for years in high-stress environments without psychological support structures. Additionally, in civilian shelters, the system can identify up to 75% of dogs suitable for retraining into security or therapeutic roles. This helps reduce overcrowding and prevents unnecessary euthanasia, particularly since most organizations currently rely on commercial breeders rather than shelters, making every newly identified candidate a meaningful addition to the available workforce.
Today, the system is operational and deployed within the company’s design partners: security organizations, shelters, and associations in Israel and US. The company continues to expand its data bank—which underpins the platform’s accuracy—through testing hundreds of dogs across different professions and environments. Pilots and proofs-of-concept projects are conducted with training bodies that run their standard screening tests alongside the company’s assessment, comparing results over time until the end of training and throughout the dog’s years of service. The company is also expanding into new markets such as guide dogs and therapy dogs, and building partnerships in the United States with training centers and ADI-certified training organizations. This positions the platform as a fast, reliable, and continuously improving tool that delivers real-time insights.
The company was founded by leading experts in neuroscience, behavior, and artificial intelligence:
- Prof. Avraham (Avi) Raphael Avital, Co-Founder– a longtime researcher in the field of working dogs and holder of relevant patents.
- Anat Assaf, Co-Founder & CEO – responsible for strategy, partnerships, and company development.
The core goal of the company’s vision is a clear: to establish a new global standard for assessing working dogs—one based on accuracy, objectivity, and welfare. A solution that saves time and money, increases training success rates, and promotes improved welfare and operational outcomes for organizations, for the dogs, and for society as a whole.
