As I am waiting to receive my sixth Seeing Eye dog, I think of everything that goes into training these miraculous dogs.

Did you know it costs around 70K to breed and train each Seeing Eye dog?  The reason for this cost will be disclosed throughout this blog series as I describe the history, breeding, puppy raising, dog training, and my own training which comes to create a partnership unlike any other.

The concept of people being guided by dogs was founded in 1927 by Dorothy Harrison Eustis who lived in Fortunate Fields, Switzerland. She visited Germany after WW I and saw veterans who were blind being guided by dogs and was struck with the idea of starting a school of her own.

Dorothy wrote an article for The Saturday Evening Post to ask if there was anyone in the USA interested in becoming the first recipient of a novel idea of being guided by a dog. After receiving thousands of letters, Dorothy extended the invitation to Morris Frank, an insurance salesman.

Morris told Dorothy if she would accept him, he would organize a guide dog training school in the US, and the match was made.

Did you know the first Seeing Eye dog was named Kiss? Can you imagine saying to your dog, “Kiss forward,” “Kiss left,” “Kiss right”?

Morris immediately changed Kiss’s name to Buddy and thereafter all five of his dogs were named buddy.  Though Seeing Eye grads may call our dogs buddy in jest, there will never be a Seeing Eye dog officially named Buddy.

Blazing the trail for future grads was not easy for Morris. First, in 1928, on the way home from Switzerland after a rigorous training program, Morris found himself and Buddy sleeping  on a casket in the ship’s cargo area; since guide dogs were unheard of and certainly not aloud anywhere on the ship or to mingle with other passengers.

Secondly, after reaching New York City, a reporter seeing Morris and Buddy walking, challenged the team to cross the busiest street in the city. Morris took the skeptical man up, and amidst roaring cars, whirly carts, speeding trollies, and bustling unsuspecting people, Buddy made the journey safely guiding Morris to the other side shocking the reporter who remained gaping on the opposite side of the street.

Upon reaching home, keeping his word to Dorothy, Morris, immediately opened the first guide dog school in the USA, the Seeing Eye Inc on January 29, 1929, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Though many people call guide dogs Seeing Eye dogs, only dogs that go through the training program at the Seeing Eye are entitled to be called Seeing Eye dogs. Kind of like Kleenex, everyone calls tissues Kleenex; however, there is only one Kleenex brand.

Unbeknownst to Morris, the humidity proved to be too hot for the dogs forcing Morris to move the school in 1931 to Whippany, New Jersey. The school remained in Whippany until it out grew itself and had to move to Morris Town, New Jersey, in 1965.

Today, the Seeing Eye has property in three locations. The main Washington Valley 60-acre campus outside Morris Town is sprawled with rolling hills and beautiful trees and is home to the administrative offices, student residence, mile-long leisure path with two gazebos, veterinary clinic, and kennels.

The second is a 330-acre property in Chester, New Jersey, which houses the breeding station for adult dogs and puppies until they are 8-weeks-old.  The third property is a training center for students and trainers which is located in downtown Morristown.

Stay tuned for my next blog in this series where I’ll describe breeding and puppy raising.