How A Sightless Person Started Seeing Eye Dogs

Have you seen blind people in the streets who have a dog as their guide while walking? Ever wonder how dogs first started to be used as assistants to people who have physical impairments? Where did it all start from? Dogs have been assisting blind people for centuries, but no one actually knows when they first started. The practice have existed in different cultures for a very long time but no formal training for them have been known until after World War I. So, how did it all start in the United States?

People may be wondering why most guide dogs for the blind are usually German Shepherds but the reason for that is simple. First, German Shepherds have a strong sense of loyalty to their owner, hence they make good companions especially for the disabled, people who can be easily taken advantage of. Second, it was in Germany that the first guide dogs were trained to assist those who were blinded or were visually impaired due to the war. It was in Potsdam, Germany where dogs were trained to guide the blind. It was one of the places in Germany who experienced great financial devastation after the war.

It was Dorothy Eustis who heard about this program in the United States and thought about setting up a course in her own school which trains German Shepherd for work. She authored an article in The Saturday Evening Post concerning the possibilities of guide dogs for any blind.

A man in Nashville, Morris Frank, read the story and tried to persuade Ms. Dorothy Eustis to give his dog a training for guide dogs. Ms. Eustis agreed and Morris Frank became known to be the first blind man to be guided by a dog. Mr. Morris Frank soon started a training program himself for guide dogs for the blind. This was in part of the agreement that he and Ms. Eustis had after she had done training his dog. Mr. Frank's foundation was called "The Seeing Eye" and thus was the Seeing-Eye dogs were born.

As of this day, there are different kinds of guide dogs for different kinds of people who are one way or the other, impaired. You can have Hearing Dogs for those with hearing impairments and others that can assist even those who are physically impaired. People who have benefited from these kinds of dogs may owe their gratitude to the guy who started it all, Mr. Morris Frank.


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