[nagdu] How a Dog Breeder, a Blind Man and a German Shepherd Changed the World in 1929

[Ginger Kutsch]

How a Dog Breeder, a Blind Man and a German Shepherd Changed the World in
1929 

Posted: 7/20/11 

Huffington Post

By Kate Kelly 

Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-kelly/how-a-dog-breeder-a-blind_b_904070.
html

 

In the early twentieth century, those without sight were marginalized
members of society. They had no job options and no mobility, and had to rely
on the kindness of someone who might lead them or help them with whatever
needed to be done. 

 

A series of circumstances on two continents was to change all that, and in
the process, provide dignity and independence to those with visual
impairment. 

 

The Woman Who Led the Way

 

Dorothy Harrison Eustis (1886-1946) was born into a prominent family in
Philadelphia and married Walter Abbott Wood, Jr., whose family had become
wealthy farm machinery manufacturers. She moved to Wood's hometown of
Hoosick Falls, New York (near the border with Vermont), where she and Wood
lived on a farm and ran an experimental cattle breeding program to increase
milk production. In 1914 the couple traveled to Germany, and Dorothy, who
loved dogs, brought home her first German shepherd. 

 

Not long into their married life, Wood contracted typhoid fever and died,
leaving Dorothy, 29, a widowed mother of two. She returned to Philadelphia
where she met and married George Eustis. The family moved to the Swiss Alps
where Dorothy began breeding German shepherds, bringing with her some of the
knowledge gained from cattle breeding. She partnered with a fellow named
Elliott Humphrey to breed dogs for the Swiss State Police and for liaison
service in the Swiss Army. The dogs could also be used to find missing
people. With those tasks in mind, Eustis and Humphrey bred for intelligence
and reliability. 

 

Eustis' police dog program was becoming well-known, and she was approached
by The Saturday Evening Post to write about it. Eustis opted instead to
write about a Potsdam program she had observed that used German shepherds to
guide World War I veterans who had been blinded by mustard gas. The
resulting article was published on November 5, 1927, and the information she
shared was to change the lives of blind people everywhere:

 

The future for all blind men can be the same, however blinded. No longer
dependent on a member of the family, a friend or a paid attendant, the blind
can once more take up their normal lives as nearly as possible where they
left them off, and each can begin or go back to a wage-earning occupation,
secure in the knowledge that he can get to and from his work safely and
without cost; that crowds and traffic have no longer any terrors for him and
that his evenings can be spent among friends without responsibility or
burden to them; and last, but far from least, that long, healthful walks are
now possible to exercise off the unhealthy fat of inactivity and so keep the
body strong and fit. Gentlemen, again without reservation, I give you the
shepherd dog.

The article spawned a huge response from readers, including a letter from
Morris Frank, a young American insurance salesman who lived in Nashville.
Frank had lost the sight in one eye as a result of a childhood accident; he
lost the sight in his other eye in 1924 in a boxing match when he was 16. He
wrote: "Thousands of blind people like me abhor being dependent on others.
Help me and I will help them. Train me and I will bring back my dog to show
people here how a blind man can be absolutely on his own." Frank offered to
help her set up a school in America if she would help him.

 

The Plight of Those Without Sight

 

Jim Kutsch, current president and CEO of The Seeing Eye (founded by Eustis
and Frank and now located in Morristown, New Jersey) notes that the reality
of being without sight at that time meant that people really had no life.
"The use of canes trailed the use of dogs by at least a decade," he says.
"If you were blind at that time, you were totally dependent on being cared
for or guided around by others." 

 

This context explains Frank's excitement. As a man who had lost his only
working eye at the age of 16, Frank knew what life might have offered him
and longed to recapture what he could. 

 

Eustis responded to his letter and invited him to Switzerland. Because he
could not fend for himself on his travels, Frank had to be classified as a
"package" and sent via American Express by steamship from Nashville to
Switzerland. He had a room but he was not permitted to move around the ship
unless someone from the ship's staff was available to accompany him. 

 

When Frank arrived in Vevey, Switzerland, Eustis was busy working with two
possible dogs so that they could see which one was more compatible with
Frank. Ultimately, the dog with whom he did best was a dog named Kiss; Frank
who was then only 20 and quickly changed the dog's name to Buddy, feeling
that a young man should not own a dog named Kiss.

 

After his training, Eustis parted with Frank temporarily, offering a
warning: "If people won't let you in [to restaurants, hotels, modes of
transportation], Buddy will do you no good."

 

Morris Frank left Europe to embark on opening doors for the blind.

 

Eustis Returns to America

 

Morris Frank was a man of his word, and he arranged to bring Eustis and the
dogs to Nashville where 150 blind soldiers awaited dogs and instruction. In
1928 Eustis's arrival was noted in The New York Times: "Shepherd Dogs Coming
for American Blind" (12-14-1928). The article goes on to describe that Mrs.
Dorothy Harrison Eustis was sailing with three German shepherd dogs "the
first contingent of the great canine army which will eventually go to the
United States as leaders for the blind."

 

In January of 1929 Dorothy Eustis gave a lecture at the New York Association
for the Blind, and she described how dogs could help in NYC:

 

"...The dog is taught to go always at a fast walk, so that the slackening in
his gait for an obstacle is instantly felt through the rigid handle in his
harness. At curbs he pulls back and stands still so his master can find the
edge with his cane. For steps, for approaching traffic and all obstacles
barring progress, he sits down. A perfect working team can be made of the
trained shepherd dog and the blind man, once the latter has become familiar
with his city by raised maps of the streets." 

The school formed by Eustis and Frank took the name The Seeing Eye (now
trademarked), and while they began in Nashville, Frank's hometown, trainers
also traveled elsewhere to hold classes. In 1931 Eustis bought a ten-bedroom
mansion in Whippany, New Jersey so that they could have a permanent base.
Frank remained as vice president of the school and did just as he promised
-- traveling everywhere with the original Buddy as well as subsequent Buddys
(Frank preferred to maintain the same name for all his dogs) to break
barriers that prohibited guide dogs from leading their owners where they
needed to go (including restaurants, hotels, and various modes of
transportation). 

 

The School Today 

 

Today The Seeing Eye, Inc. still exists and is the oldest school for guide
dogs in the country. In 1965 they moved to a newly designed special facility
in Morristown, and today its president and CEO is Jim Kutsch, a Seeing Eye
dog user himself who is married to another Seeing Eye user. 

 

Most of the school's dogs are bred in Chester, New Jersey, and while many
are German shepherds, today the school also works with Labrador Retrievers,
Golden Retrievers, or Labrador-Golden crosses. Continuing in Eustis'
footsteps, a breeding program is carefully monitored by a geneticist to see
that the qualities needed for a service dog are in place. Puppies are raised
by volunteers who work on training and socialization until the dogs who
qualify are ready for additional training at 18 months old. Formal training
to be a Seeing Eye dog lasts four months, and they learn obedience as well
as "intelligent disobedience" to understand when following an order might
cause danger. The dogs then spend another month being trained with their
human partners.

 

Jim Kutsch notes that in addition to the continuation of careful breeding
and training of the dogs, there have been changes: "When Morris Frank first
learned to work with a guide dog, the method involved holding a harness and
leash in one's left hand, and then holding a relatively short cane [compared
to what people use today] to check the space ahead." 

 

"Since that time, a lot has been learned to improve the system. Today the
harness can be adjusted ergonomically to make the person most comfortable,
but more important, the harness is fit more precisely, which means the dog's
owner gets more accurate information from the dog more quickly," explains
Kutsch.

 

Despite Progress in Some Areas, Dogs Still Vital

 

Despite the improvement in helping the visually impaired with computers and
audio systems, etc., when it comes to mobility, dogs today are just as
important as they always were. Kutsch continues: "The street environment is
more complex than ever. It used to be that all traffic lights changed
predictably after a certain number of seconds. Today lights change according
to the traffic, and so it is no longer possible for a person to anticipate a
light change." 

 

Catalytic converters -- and hybrid cars -- that permit cars to run more
quietly are also a negative for the visually impaired. "We've added hybrid
cars to our training program. You can't hear them when they are at a full
stop. We now teach dogs that a car is a car, whether it's making a noise or
not." 

 

While so much progress has been made since Morris Frank's day, Kutsch notes
that there are still battles to be fought. While his own Seeing Eye dog has
gone many places with him -- including the hospital delivery room when his
children were born -- he and his wife, who also uses a Seeing Eye dog, still
find that an occasional restaurant or taxi cab will refuse to take them.

 

"But overall, Dorothy Eustis and Morris Frank have enabled me to have a
normal life and pursue my dreams..." (Kutsch holds a Ph.D. in computer
science, has worked as a professor, and held several positions with AT&T
including working at Bell Labs before taking his current job). 

 

And to that end, he and the school continue to raise money to fund the
continuation of the program, so that they and others can follow their
dreams. Currently, Kutsch is training for the Gran Fondo ("big ride" or "big
endurance" in Italian) in late August. Kutsch and his wife Ginger will both
be paired with a sighted couple for tandem biking to raise money for this
important cause: Visit: www.seeingeye.org/ride.

 

And for a profile of Buddy, Morris Frank's first "seeing eye" guide dog in
America, please visit the "Dog Days of Summer" at www.americacomesalive.com
If you would like to receive the dog profiles by email, please add your name
to the list on my site. 

 

Follow Kate Kelly on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AboutAmerica