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After World War I, the Germans began training blind veterans with guide dogs. At that time, Dorothy Harrison Eustis, a wealthy American, 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.
Soon after her visit, the Saturday Evening Post asked Dorothy to write an article about her dogs. 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 came out, Morris Frank, a young blind man in Tennessee heard about the guide dogs and was determined to work with one. He was quite 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. Upon his return to the U.S., she requested that he start a school. Frank founded 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.
The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind was founded in 1946, in Forest Hills, NY. Now located in Smithtown, NY, the Guide Dog Foundation strives to be the leading resource and provider of premier services to facilitate the independence of people who are blind or visually impaired.
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