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The history of the guide dog
In "A Christmas Carol" which he wrote in 1843, Charles Dickens refers to guide dogs. It is in 1878 that the guide dog for the blind was first recognized as such, when the British Parliament officially declared the sheep dogs owned by the blind as guide dogs.
In a publication dated 1813, the usefulness of the dogs used by the blind of the "Quinze-Vingt" hospital (Paris) since 1780 is discussed. Dogs were probably being trained by the patients of the hospital 30 years previously, as seen in a painting by Chardin (1752) in the Louvre.
When the Viennese journalist, Josef Riesinger, became blind at the beginning of the eighteenth century, he trained a Spitz to guide him. The guide dog was so good that the journalist was accused of faking his handicap. He later trained 2 other dogs for his own use. One was a poodle. Mr. Johann Wilhelm Klein, the director of the Viennese Institute for the Blind (founded in 1819), believed the poodle and the shepherd dogs were the best guide dogs. In 1879 he published the first training method for guide dogs. The method consisted of fixing a cane to the dog's collar and held in the left hand. "The cane passes through different fixtures on the dog's body so that a lateral movement is felt by the human's hand". At first the dogs were trained by people with normal vision. Mr. Klein's method consisted of conditioning the dog by covering the same course several times. The dog was then given to a blind person who would let the dog work autonomously until a bond was established between them.
Methods similar to those used by Mr. Klein had been written up, all using the rigid cane. Engravings show the length of the leash as well as the rigid rod which placed the blind person 1 metre behind the dog, thus the one followed the other. A veterinarian, author of a book on dogs, claims to have seen as a child, in a rural area, three blind people being guided by American fox terriers at the end of a cane. He said that "the little dogs in front were more effective than big dogs at the side and that no one stumbled over the cane as everyone easily saw the little white dog."
In 1847, Jakob Birrer, a blind Swiss, published his observations regarding the method he used to educate a Spitz for his own use. He seems to have perfected Klein's method but, as in the case of the latter, no one seemed to have shown any interest at the time.
In 1916, after 2 years of war, during which many soldiers were blinded, a renewed interest was shown when a Viennese doctor suggested that dogs be trained to guide them. It was not in Austro-Hungary but in Germany that the idea was followed up on, by the Association of Sanitary Dogs of the German Red Cross, directed by Dr Gerhard Stalling. The sanitary dogs, Collies, were trained to track down wounded soldiers in the field and help them. By 1918 a large number of dogs had been trained and the association responsible for this was held in high r egard. Dr Stalling decided to retrain these dogs to become guide dogs and the first one was handed over in October 1916. A year later 100 guide dogs were in service and by 1919 539 blind veterans had a guide dog. Due to government funding the training programme escalated. The school went from 200 to 600 trained dogs a year, allowing blind civilians to get guide dogs as from 1922. Alas, the rapid growth and ever higher need for guide dogs was not beneficial to the association. The veterans began complaining that the dogs were not as reliable as before, but this was, no doubt, due to the very tough training methods employed. Not only were the dogs more and more restless, but they were also less willing to work. Furthermore, it became difficult to find suitable dogs and qualified staff to train them. As a consequence the association stopped supplying the veterans but continued to give guide dogs to civilians for several more years. The Department of Agriculture then asked the German Shepherd Club to take care of the war veterans. In 1923 it opened its first school for guide dogs in Potsdam (near Berlin). It was a large facility, able to house 100 dogs and the training methods were similar to those used today. By 1930 4000 guide dogs had been given away.
In 1925, an American, Mrs. Dorothy Harrison Eustis, trained German Shepherds for the Swiss Italian police and she also owned kennels in Switzerland. Her husband asked her to go to the Potsdam school to see the work done there. What she saw so impressed her that she wrote an article in the "Saturday Evening Post" in October, 1927. This drew a wide interest. A blind American, Morris Frank, wanted dogs to be trained in the US and wrote to Mrs. Eustis. She took up the challenge and trained a German Shepherd at her kennel for Morris Frank. He came to Switzerland to learn to work with his dog "Buddy" and returned to the US as the first guide dog master. As a result Mrs. Eustis opened a centre for guide dogs in Switzerland in 1928 and began teaching guide dog trainers. With Morris Frank's help she opened the first American guide dog school, "The Seeing Eyes", in 1929. She continued developing the guide dog movement, traveled widely and wrote extensively about her work. Web site: Seeing Eye (new window)
In 1930, when her articles began appearing in the press, two English women, Miss Muriel Crooke and Mrs. Rosumund Bond met Mrs. Eustis in London in September. She lent them a trainer to begin the education of guide dogs in England. In 1931 the GDBA (the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association) was created and since then 180,000 guide dogs have been given away. Website: GDBA (new window)
In 1951, Mr. Paul Corteville, a police dog and tracking dog trainer from Wasquehal (northern France) trained the first French guide. He was a German Shepherd, Dicky, and was given to Rene Blin, a blind World War 1 veteran. Mr. Corteville used his own method without any written guidelines in French. Dicky proved so successful that requests for guide dogs followed. Mr. Corteville belonged to a dog training club and decided to start a guide dog division within his club. Over the years he trained 15 dogs, but the need for guide dogs was so overwhelming that he formed the Guide Dog for the Blind Club of Roubaix with several friends in 1958. Together with Mr. de Reviere they trained 6-7 guide dogs every year. As they all had full-time jobs, the dogs were trained in the mornings and the evenings, and the blind people only on weekends. This was, of course, totally inadequate. Their funds came from a national collection drive for the blind and totaled about 5,000 to 6,000 francs. In 1970, due to a lack of funds, but also from sheer exhaustion and as he was devoted to the dogs, Mr. Corteville felt he should stop training guide dogs. Several blind guide dog masters alerted the written press, the radio and national television stations. An outpouring of support resulted which collected enough funds to build the first specialized centre for training guide dogs in Wasquehal, inaugurated in 1972. Up until now more than 1000 guide dogs have been given away. Web site: Association chiens guides d'aveugles - centres Paul Corteville (new window) In 1967, another school was opened in Sospel (Alpes Maritimes), using the English method. In 1972 the two schools, Wasquehal and Sospel, merged and the National Federation was formed. In 2002 the FNECGA (National Federation of Clubs and Guide Dog Schools) (http://www.chiensguides.com) became the FFAC (French Federation of Guide Dogs for the Blind Associations). Web site: FFAC 10 schools belong to this association, as well as the CESECAH (Study Centre for the Selection and Education of Guide Dogs for the Blind and Other Impaired Individuals), created in 1996, and the ANMCGA (National Association of Masters of Guide Dogs for the Blind). Each year, 140 guide dogs were given away free of charge by the schools affiliated with the FFAC The FFAC is affiliated with the IGDF (International Guide Dog Federation) Website in french: FFAC (new window) Website in french: ANMCGA (new window) Website in french: CESECAH (new window) Website: International Guide Dog Federation (new window)
In 1978 Mr. Romero trained his first bitches, Princesse and Nora. At the time he was a member of the Normandy Club near Louviers which closed a few months later. In 1980 he founded the Guide Dogs for the Blind School in Paris and "la Couronne". Mr. Petillon was the founding president, Mr. Romero the director and Mrs. Romero the treasurer. The offices were in their home in Blanc-Mesnil. The first 2 dogs that were given away were 2 female Labradors, Riade and Rocade. Mr. Romero, who was trained by Mr. Corteville, complemented his training through the GDBA in England. In 1982 Mr. Bertrand, a blind Parisian, with a guide dog from the Sospel school, became president of the club. Aware of the great need for guide dogs, the three men tried to do something to cover this demand. Mr. Klein, the veterinarian looking after Mr. Bertrand's dog, gave them his support when they approached the Paris municipality with their request. On the 11th November, 1983 the Paris municipality announced the creation of a school in Paris. In the meantime, while the plans went ahead, the future guide dogs continued to be trained in the house in Blanc-Mesnil. 2 trainers were paid by the National Association of Guide Dogs for the Blind with funds received from the Lions Club. 11th May, 1987 Jacques Chirac inaugurated the school in its present location. Situated in the Vincennes forest, the buildings, known as "le pavillon des Gardes" belonged to the Republican Guard and were in ruins. 20 dogs and 2 blind persons could be housed on site. There were 2 full-time trainers and Mr. Romero volunteered to train the dogs in the evenings and on weekends. 10 dogs were given away that year. But the demand was so big that more trainers were hired and Mr. Romero left his job to work full-time at the school. The team specialized more and more in training dogs for the blind. From 1991 on a trainer supervised the different teams and a locomotion instructor and a psychologist were hired as well. The breeding programme grew and the selection process became more precise. There were also more and more host families, supervised by a trainer. Each dog had to pass a guide aptitude test prior to being given away. This comprised obedience, search and obstacle avoidance exercises. The school has never stopped functioning. In 1996 three new boxes were added to house 9 additional dogs. In 1997 the building adjacent to the school was made available to the association and now houses the offices of the re-education team. In 1998 the Paris school gave away 34 dogs. 3 dog trainers also acted as locomotion instructors. 3 others were assistant veterinarians and were in charge of the breeding programmes and the host families. One trainer was specialized in the re-education of the visually impaired. As far as the breeding programmes are concerned, the breeds used are the Retrievers, the American Shepherd and the Hovawart.. At present the association goes by the name of The School for Guide Dogs for the Blind and Visually Impaired of Paris and the Paris Region (ECGAMVP). It gives away 40 dogs a year, has given away some 640 guide dogs since its creation and owns 260 dogs in active service. To better satisfy the demand for new and replacement guide dogs a second school for Paris is planned.
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