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Leader Dog / Guide Dog History

Soon after World War I the Germans began training blind veterans with guide dogs. At that time, a wealthy American named Dorothy Harrison Eustis was living in Switzerland, breeding German Shepherd dogs for various working purposes. She visited the German training school in Potsdam to observe the dogs being trained as guides and was quite impressed, though at the time she was very involved with her own program.

Following Dorothy’s visit to the training school the Saturday Evening Post asked Dorothy to write an article about her program. She was afraid the article would lead to requests for puppies for sale and did not want to be bothered with that sort of thing, so she thought she would write about the German guide dogs instead.

When the Post article was published a young blind man in Tennessee heard about the guide dogs and was determined to work with one. The man, Morris Frank, had been frustrated in his efforts to travel on his own. He had financial means, but wanted independence. He wrote to Mrs. Eustis and asked her to train a dog for him. At first she refused, but he persisted until she finally agreed to let him come to Switzerland. She then trained him with the dog. Dorothy requested that Morris start a school back in the United States. He did, establishing The Seeing Eye in 1929. At about this same time, a school was founded in England. Each school had its own distinct training methods, but all were dedicated to the same purpose.

Leader Dogs for the Blind was founded in 1939 by a group of Michigan Lions. Their goal was to train dogs to lead the blind and to provide facilities and means whereby trained dogs could be matched to a blind master. The nonprofit organization is served by a national board of 30 trustees and is one of ten schools across the United States that compose the U. S. Council of Guide Dog Schools. The training school and executive offices are located in Rochester, Michigan. Over ten thousand blind people have become self-sufficient through the use of a Leader Dog. The dormitory stands as a tribute to the many Lions Clubs who have unselfishly given their time and money to make the Leader Dog School what it is today.

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