Guide Dogs

No one knows when the concept of using assistance animals for the blind first came into being. It is suggested that dogs have been used as guide dogs in various cultures for a very long time however there was no formal guide dog program in existence until after the First World War.

Why German Shepherds?
A German Shepherd has a strong sense of loyalty to its owner that provides a natural tendency to be protective. A very protective dog as a companion is an asset for a handicapped person.

The first guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired were trained in Germany to provide assistance for those that were blinded in the war.
At the end of World War I, Germany was devastated by financial depression. Many private businesses failed; Potsdam, the German school that trained the guide dogs for the blind was one of them.

The Beginning
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 was still considering the possibilities when she wrote a story for The Saturday Evening Post about the potential of guide dogs for the blind.
A Nashville man named Morris Frank heard the story and decided to write to Ms. Eustis to 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.
Mr. Frank started training guide dogs in the United States. The foundation that Mr. Frank started was named “The Seeing Eye”; that’s where the Seeing Eye dog name originated.

Today, guide dogs are trained to assist people with many different disabilities. There are Hearing Ear dogs to assist the deaf and dogs that assist the physically disabled.

Many dogs have a natural predisposition to this type of job. It helps the disabled as well as the dog – giving the dog a “job” to do. Dogs love to feel needed as much as people do.

Article by Joanne from  http://www.greytinspirations.com.