International Guide Dog Day!

Today is International Guide Dog Day!

Guide dogs are used by the blind or people who have low vision to...basically help them get around. Guide dogs allow such people to have increased independence as well as more social interaction. Humans are social creatures, after all.

This day is celebrated in the last Wednesday of April every year. The day was first celebrated by the International Association of Guide Dog Associations in 1992, as they were formed on April 26th of 1989.

The concept of the guide dog is nothing new. In fact, references to service animals can be found as far back as the 16th century. The first guide dog training schools of the modern day were started in Germany after World War I ended. The purpose was to train service dogs to be paired with veterans who were blinded by war. American dog breeder and philanthropist Dorothy Harrison Eustis wrote about these guide dogs in The Saturday Evening Post in 1927, which got a lot of interest, including from a then 20-year-old blind man named Morris Frank. 

Frank would spend several weeks in Switzerland (Eustis resided there at the time), learning to work with the first of six guide dogs, all named "Buddy". Frank and Eustis would found The Seeing Eye, the first guide dog training school in the United States, in 1928. The Seeing Eye would also help change public attitudes towards the disabled. 

Golden retrievers are a popular breed to use for guide dogs because of their gentle natures and willing temperament. Labradors, poodles, and German Shepherds are also popular breeds for the job, but German Shepards have fallen out of popularity for the role because of the breed's overly active nature. 

Guide dogs have also been shown to have many positive effects for those who use them. They can provide an increased sense of security and independence, and help provide exercise and social interaction.