In the 1920s , a journalist , a college educatee , and a German shepherd teamed up to change the lives of the unsighted .
American exile Dorothy Harrison Eustis was live in Switzerland in 1927 when she saw something unbelievable : especially trained andiron guide blind German World War I oldtimer . It was an epoch when the blind were almost totally reliant on other multitude for help , and Eustis was so impressed by the oldtimer ’ independence that she wrote a piece forThe Saturday Evening Postextolling the chastity of their German shepherds . “ shout from his play , a pawl advanced in his work is ridiculously like a business man called to his office , ” she write .
After the article escape , proofreader flooded Eustis with letters . One note in exceptional stood out . Morris Frank , a Vanderbilt undergrad , publish : “ Is what you say really true ? If so , I want one of those dogs ! And I am not alone . Thousands of blind like me abhor being dependant on others . ” Frank offered Eustis a deal : “ aid me and I will help them . educate me and I will play back my dog and show people here how a unsighted man can be absolutely on his own . ”
Eustis called Frank with an pass . If he ’d trek to Switzerland — no small labor for a unsighted man in that era — she’d fix him up with a dog and trainer . Frank was n’t frighten off by the terminal figure , yelling , “ To get back my independency , I ’d go to Hell ! ”
Both defy up their ends of the deal . Frank went to Switzerland , get a dog identify Buddy , and repay home to much media attention . In New York City , throngs of reporters were astounded by the spectacle of Buddy and Frank crossing streets and navigating sidewalk traffic . truthful to his word , Frank trip the U.S. and Canada present Buddy ’s helpfulness . In 1929 , Frank and Eustis teamed up to form the Seeing Eye , the first U.S. agency to train template domestic dog . The program establish wildly successful and in its 84 years of operation has train more than 15,000 dog .
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