Seeing Eye Dogs - A
Brief History
by: Jacob Deam
You have no
doubt seen a blind person being lead across
a busy intersection by a Seeing Eye dog.
These functional companions have been used
to help handicapped people become
independent for years. Nobody knows exactly
when the concept of a Seeing Eye dog came
into existence but it has been suggested
that dogs have been used in such a capacity
in various cultures for a very long time. It
is known, however, that there was no formal
guide dog program in existence until after
the First World War.
Why German
Shepherds?
Many people
have probably wondered why guide dogs and
Seeing Eye dogs are so often German
Shepherds. There are two reasons. First, the
German Shepherd has a strong sense of
loyalty to its owner, giving it natural
protective tendencies. Having a very
protective dog as a companion is an obvious
asset for someone who may otherwise be
easily attacked by someone with bad
intentions. The second reason is far
simpler; the first guide dogs for the blind
and visually impaired were trained in
Germany to provided assistance for those
blinded in the war.
After the end
of World War I, Germany was in a state of
financial depression. Many private
businesses failed and the Potsdam, Germany
school that trained the guide dogs for the
blind was one of them.
The Seeing Eye
was born
An American
woman named Dorothy Eustis had heard about
the program and decided it was a very
worthwhile endeavor. Because she owned a
company that was training German Shepherds
as working dogs, she decided she might try
to train guide dogs for the blind. She did
not start this right away, however. In fact
she was still considering the possibilities
when she wrote a story for The Saturday
Evening Post about the potential for guide
dogs for the blind.
A Nashville
man named Morris Frank had heard the story
and decided to get in touch with Ms. Eustis
and ask her to train a dog for him. She did
and Mr. Frank became known as the first
blind person to use a guide dog.
As part of an
arrangement he’d made with Ms. Eustis, Mr.
Frank started training guide dogs in the
United States. The foundation that Mr. Frank
started was named “The Seeing Eye” and the
dogs that were used were dubbed Seeing Eye
dogs.
Today guide
dogs are trained to assist people with many
different disabilities. There are Hearing
Ear dogs to assist the deaf and other dogs
that assist the physically disabled. All of
the people who have benefited from the use
of a guide dog, however, owe their thanks to
Mr. Morris Frank of Nashville, Tennessee.
