Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/guide-dog-pledge/

International Guide Dog Day has been held every year on the last Wednesday in April since 1992, honoring guide dogs and the work they do for the blind.

As Bark Post reports, there is evidence dogs have been helping the blind in ancient Rome. Officially, guide dogs are credited to Johann Wilhelm Klein, who founded the Institute for the Education of the Blind in Vienna. Klein detailed his method for training guide dogs in 1819, but Guide Dogs wouldn’t be widely used until about 100 years later.

During World War I, many soldiers were returning home blind from poisonous gases. Dr. Gerhard Stalling suggested training mass numbers of dogs to help the men, and in 1916 opened the world’s first guide dog school, the International Guide Dog Federation reports.

Guide dog schools soon spread throughout Germany, providing guide dogs to former service members and blind people throughout the world. Dr. Stalling’s program only lasted as long as the right dogs were available, however, which only proved to be a few years.

According to Vital Pet Life, In the 1920s an American dog trainer named Dorothy Harrison Eustis helped to relaunch the guide dog movement, and trained the first guide dog in the U.S. She later founded the Seeing Eye School in New Jersey.

Following the lead of these pioneers, there are now guide dog schools in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. These schools help train animals that will change countless lives. You can help advocate for guide dogs by:

Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog