The Guide Dog
The modern guide dog story started in Germany in 1916-1917, when dogs were trained to lead soldiers blinded in World War I. In 1927, Dorothy Eustis, an American who trained police and army dogs in Switzerland, wrote an article about the German guide dog schools and was contacted by Morris Frank, a blind American. A year later, she arranged for a guide dog to be trained for Frank and founded The Seeing Eye organization in Switzerland in America.
In 1930, two British women heard about The Seeing Eye program and asked Eustis to send a trainer to England. In 1931, the first four British guide dogs completed their training and, in 1934, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association began in England. In the early years, suitable dogs were difficult to find and this was a financial strain on charity. To combat this, a “puppy walking scheme” was started in 1956, placing puppies with volunteer “walkers” who introduce the young dogs to the sights, sounds and smells of a world in which they will function. In 1960, the first breeding program was established.