Dogs have always been considered man’s best friend. Over the centuries, various indications show an unequaled bond between dogs and men, and their willingness to serve a loving hand. Even arts and literature salute this bond between humans and their loyal guide dogs. Research conducted by the South African Guide Dogs association for the blind reveals a painting in the Louvre in Paris showing a blind man and his “guide dog” done by Chardin in the 1700’s. There is also a wood – cut from 1845 by H. Nagel of a traveler and the small guide dog that he trained to be one of the first artistically documented.
It is evident that there has been a long history of dogs assisting people, particularly the blind, and historical accounts trace the organized use of aguide dog for the blind person and a movement towards the use of guide dogs all the way back to 1819 Vienna. Johann Wilhelm Klein is the founder of an Institute for the Blind, where he also trained dogs as guides, apparently the very first “guide dogs”. Although this is considered a breakthrough, it would take another hundred years for this program to gather international awareness.
This recognition of the possibilities for use ofdogs for helping the blind eventually took place due to an urgent need to help blinded German soldiers during World War I. Dr. Gerhard Stalling foundeda school fortraining dogs. From 1912 to1918, during the period considered as the Great War, the Austrian War Department also began to train blinded war veterans with service dogs. A formalized training program was developed in Pottsdam, Germany which trained German shepherds as guide dogs for the blind war veterans. However, there are other accounts that say the original guide dogs for the blind were “smallish mongrel type dogs, rather terrier-like in appearance”.
In the United States, a modern movement was developed and launched by Dorothy Harrison Eutis, a wealthy Philadelphian living in Switzerland. She experimented with German shepherds trained as working dogs. Her work involved training dogs for police work and Red Cross rescue units. She wrote an article crediting and documenting the significant work of Dr. Stalling, hence paving the way for the use of dogs for the blind all across the world.
Morris Frank, a young blind American from Nashville Tennessee wrote Eutis upon hearing about the article and asked her to train one of her dogs for him. Losing his eyesight in two separate accidents, Frank never wanted to depend on other people; his enthusiasm for life inspired Dorothy Eutis to train a guide dog which he eventually called Buddy. When Morris agreed to go to Switzerland, he became the first American to incorporate the use of guide dogs into his life and Buddy became the pioneer for all guide dogs for the blind in America. With the success she experienced, Eutis started teaching people how to train dogs to guide the blind as well as training the dogs users to establish an effective teamwork relationship.
In order to honor the great deed of Eutis and with money that she provided, Morris Frank worked to make the first guide dogs school in America; it was called The Seeing Eye which was incorporated January 29, 1929.
Guide dogs for the blind have become very well-known with worldwide recognition. In 1950, Dr. Arnold Cook returned home from London with the first guide dog of many to be used in Australia – Dreena. Many other associationswere organized and established following the success of all these pioneering works.
The guide dogs movement has indeed been a vital breakthrough in humanity. It has dramatically changed the lives of innumerable individuals with visual impairments. Not only have they improved the quality of life for these people, freeing them from many of the limits imposed by their blindness, but they likewise created a whole new era in the triumph of the human spirit over adversities in life.
For more information on guide dogs, go to http://www.Guide-Dogs.info
Vision Runner is a legally blind runner, running 1,222.25 miles to raise $30,000 for “Guide Dogs for the Blind”. For more information on her project and to find out how you can help, go to http://www.RunOverToEllens.com
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Author: Jae Winters
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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