The other day a blind man with a guide dog (“Seeing Eye Dog”, IIRC, is a trademarked name for one particular trainer’s dogs) walked by me. As usual, I was blown away by the animal’s discipline and obedience. But then I wondered; when did they “invent” this role for dogs?
Obviously, dogs have been our friends for millennia and they’re protective of their owners, but who invented the current pattern for training and using guide dogs? It’s a remarkable achievement.
Reeder
April 8, 2003, 2:05am
2
Wahoo
April 8, 2003, 2:12am
3
http://www.seeingeye.org/aboutus.asp?sc=ps#1
Dorothy Harrison Eustis was a Philadelphian who lived in Switzerland. At first, she wanted to breed German shepherd dogs for desirable character traits: alertness, stamina and responsibility. She and her staff realized that the breeding program’s effectiveness could only be measured by the dogs’ performance of responsible tasks, so they also developed a training program. Canine “graduates” soon demonstrated their ability to render outstanding service to the Swiss Army and several metropolitan police units in Europe. But Mrs. Eustis was unaware of the dogs’ full potential until she visited a school where she saw German shepherds being trained as guides for blinded veterans of World War I. Deeply impressed, she wrote an article for The Saturday Evening Post (November 5, 1927) called “The Seeing Eye.” When the article reached Morris Frank, a young man in Tennessee, he wrote to Mrs. Eustis, “…Thousands of blind like me abhor being dependent on others. Help me and I will help them. Train me and I will bring back my dog and show people here how a blind man can be absolutely on his own.” Morris Frank was invited to Switzerland. Mrs. Eustis selected and trained a dog for him; then he was taught to work with the dog. Back in the United States, he crossed and recrossed the country, putting himself and his dog, Buddy, to the test in every conceivable traffic situation. This new team would make the world accessible to blind people.