Guide dog

[2] In Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 19th-century verse novel Aurora Leigh, the title character remarks, "The blind man walks wherever the dog pulls / And so I answered.

The first service dog training schools were established in Germany during World War I, to enhance the mobility of returning veterans who were blinded in combat.

[7] The service animal movement did not take hold in America until Nashville resident Morris Frank returned from Switzerland after being trained with one of Eustis's dogs, a female German shepherd named Buddy.

Four of these first were Flash, Judy, Meta, and Folly, who were handed over to their new owners, veterans blinded in World War I, on 6 October 1931 in Wallasey, Merseyside.

[11][12] In 1934, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association in Great Britain began operation, although their first permanent trainer was a Russian military officer, Captain Nikolai Liakhoff, who moved to the UK in 1933.

Humphrey was hired to breed German shepherds at a centre in Switzerland that had been set up by Dorothy Harrison Eustis of Philadelphia and began the work that led to the Seeing-Eye Dog program.

The Germans had developed a guide dog program during World War I, but Mr. Humphrey devised different procedures and it is his that are followed in the United States.

[13] Important studies on the behaviour and training methods of service animals were done in the 1920s and 1930s by Jakob von Uexküll and Emanuel Georg Sarris.

Laws and regulations vary worldwide: Since some schools of thought in Islam consider dogs in general to be unclean,[44] Muslim taxi drivers and store owners have sometimes refused to accommodate customers who have service animals, which has led to discrimination charges against them.

[46] Studies show owning a pet or therapy animal offers beneficial effects psychologically, socially, and physiologically, and guide dogs are no exception.

Some blind people report experiencing increased levels of confidence, a greater sense of security, and a cherished friendship from owning guide dogs.

A blind man is led by a guide dog inside a shopping mall.
A blind man is led by his guide dog in Brasília , Brazil.
A blind woman learns to use her guide dog in a test environment with various obstacles
A blind woman learns to use her guide dog in a test environment.
A blind man with his guide dog in Montreal , 1941
Labrador Retriever guide dogs resting
Labrador guide dog standing with its handler
A guide dog-in-training in Israel
Social psychologist Elliot Aronson and his guide dog, Desilu, whom he received in January 2011