[nagdu] First person to Use Seeing eye dog in US

Cindy Ray cindyray at gmail.com
Wed Jan 18 20:19:35 UTC 2012 

Well, sure they were sort of making it up. They made up the rules as they went along, though, of course, they knew something about training dogs for other uses. Morris was adventurous and bored; he answered the ad in the Saturday Evening Post, and he must have just made an impression. It is fascinating how people take those kinds of risks and win. Could be a lesson to me.
Cindy

On Jan 18, 2012, at 9:44 AM, Buddy Brannan wrote:

> It would appear that how well the Senator did with his dog is a matter of perspective. Peter Putnam's book, through Morris Frank's correspondence, says he didn't, but gives no corroborating evidence to back up the assertion. W. A. Christensen's book says he did quite well with the dog, but gives equally little real demonstration of this. I'd really like to know more about this little known bit of history myself. 
> 
> As to Morris, sounds to me as though he was in the right place at the right time. There appeared to be absolutely no screening done before he was shipped over by American Express, though there is some discussion of how and why he, along with Dr. Buchanan, were picked for the initial class. (Dr. Buchanan didn't end up making it until the first Seeing Eye class in Nashville, though.) Still, the selection criteria seemed rather arbitrary by today's standards, and it certainly seems that they were sort of making it up as they went for those first few years.
> --
> Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
> Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 18, 2012, at 10:33 AM, Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC) wrote:
> 
>> 	And to the person who doesn't like people who respond to old threads, Tracey's post re the student doing the class project on civil rights and guide dogs is what prompted my thinking. 
>> 
>> Interesting to that Buddy's note blamed the senator for not doing well with a guide dog. I wonder how and why that conclusion was reached? Maybe the guy just wasn't a dog person or found it difficult to work in the kind of relationship a guide dog needs? 
>> Also, does anybody knew if old Moris had done anything to demonstrate he would do better with a dog? 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 10:28 AM
>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] First person to Use Seeing eye dog in US
>> 
>> This note just randomly popped up again. 
>> I'm wondering something. If people who were blind were so oppressed (isn't that what got NFB going)? how did this senator get to be senator? 
>> I've read that Americans tendto vote for politicians that they like ona personal level, people they'd like to drink beer with v. people who they think can do the job at hand. That's one reason why John Edwards was so despised, people thought "You bastard, you cheated on your wife, your wife who also has cancer". 
>> So, can somebody explain how the blind guy got to be senator if blind people were held in such poor regard?  
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Buddy Brannan
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 12:43 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] First person to Use Seeing eye dog in US
>> 
>> All i've ever seen was a brief mention in "Love In the Lead", which basically said that this Senator (think his name was Thomas Scholl) got a guide dog from a trainer in Minnesota, the "Master Eye Foundation", I think, who got the dog from Germany, and it didn't work very well. Something like that. A slightly more complete account, which of course says something slightly different, was in "Almo: His Master's Eyes". I have both passages around here.
>> 
>> Anyway, I may be all confused about what details I got from where, but here is the relevant passage from Love In the Lead. (I seem to have lost Almo! How did that happen? See? It's the problem with being a packrat and then occasionally getting rid of things...)
>> 
>>    The German work had been brought to the attention of
>> American workers for the blind long before Dorothy's Post article
>> was published.  In 1923, the American Association of Workers for
>> the Blind heard a lecture on guide dog schooling by a German
>> trainer. In 1925, the Potsdam school offered Robert Irwin of the
>> American Foundation for the Blind to provide both dogs and
>> trainers for a fee.  John L. Synikin, a Minneapolis dog breeder,
>> studied the work in Germany and returned to set up the Master Eye
>> Foundation.  He imported a German-trained dog which he retrained
>> for Senator Thomas Schall of Minnesota in 1927.  At about the
>> same time, Josef Weber, who had worked with both police dogs and
>> guide dogs in his native Germany, was establishing a training
>> kennel outside Princeton, New Jersey.
>> 
>> [...]
>>    Morris answered immediately.  He began, "I have some good
>> news for you.  Senator Smutz of Minnesota" (he meant Senator
>> Schall) "has purchased a dog from Munich which was trained in
>> German, but is now being retrained in English and is proving
>> absolutely satisfactory to our sightless Senator, taking him all
>> over Washington.  I believe that in a month after I have the dog,
>> I can train it to take me anywhere in the United States."
>> 
>> [...]
>> 
>>    If there was any red tape about importing the dog, he begged
>> her to let him know, "so that I may be able to bring to bear any
>> political influence that my family may be able to have." Dorothy
>> Harrison Eustis must have smiled at this offer of political
>> influence from a boy of nineteen, but she admired both his
>> initiative and his altruism.  He wanted a dog not only for
>> himself, but for all blind Americans, and he was willing to work
>> for it.  She cabled him that there was no possibility of bringing
>> a dog on this trip and followed with a letter of explanation.
>>    Morris's reply accepted the delay with the thought that
>> "there is absolutely no use in rushing our work." The "our"
>> suggests that he has graciously taken her into partnership.  He
>> again listed a number of workers for the blind who knew his
>> mother and added that Senator Schall had not done nearly so well
>> with his dog as he had at first supposed.  In fact, his
>> difficulties had hurt the cause of the guide dog among the
>> workers for the blind. "Of course, you and I know that this is as
>> much the Senator's fault as the dog's, but I am confident that,
>> with a good demonstration, this objection can be quickly
>> overruled."
>> [...]
>> 
>> 
>> I'm still on the prowl for another copy of "Almo". 
>> 
>> --
>> Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
>> Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Nov 22, 2011, at 9:34 AM, Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC) wrote:
>> 
>>> Anybody know anything about the other guy? I'm curious. What do we know of him and what can we learn.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Margo and Arrow
>>> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 12:33 PM
>>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] First person to Use Seeing eye dog in US
>>> 
>>> I still contend Morris Frank was the first person to actually use a guide
>>> dog because he actually used the dog, but, your point is well taken that
>>> someone else had a guide dog in this country.
>>> 
>>> Margo and Arrow
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Buddy Brannan" <buddy at brannan.name>
>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 12:21 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] First person to Use Seeing eye dog in US
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> Actually, Morris Frank wasn't the first person to use a guide dog in the
>>>> US. Theree was, apparently, a Senator who got one from a German trainer in
>>>> 1926, but it didn't do so well, or something. We never hear about that
>>>> guy, and I suspect there's a good reason for that.
>>>> --
>>>> Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
>>>> Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Nov 18, 2011, at 11:51 AM, Margo and Arrow wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> I saw this on the Dog Park email list.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Margo and Arrow
>>>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sherrill O'Brien"
>>>>> <sherrill.obrien at verizon.net>
>>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 10:29 AM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] First person to Use Seeing eye dog in US
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>>> This is such a well done and poignant video. Those of us who have had
>>>>>> Seeing
>>>>>> Eye dogs really appreciate Lucas Franck's dedication and professional
>>>>>> touch
>>>>>> in everything with which he is involved. Margo, was this on the Seeing
>>>>>> Eye
>>>>>> list, or on their website? Anyway, thanks much for passing it along to
>>>>>> us.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sherrill
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
>>>>>> Behalf Of Margo and Arrow
>>>>>> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 6:57 AM
>>>>>> To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
>>>>>> Subject: [nagdu] First person to Use Seeing eye dog in US
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> the following link has footage taken from The Seeing eye archives and
>>>>>> shows
>>>>>> Morris Frank, the first person to use a guide dog in this country.  He
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> Dorothy Harrison eustis founded the Seeing eye in 1929 and the guide dog
>>>>>> movement has moved forward since then and there are many guide dog
>>>>>> schools
>>>>>> in this country, Canada, and throughout the world.  the person narrating
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> video is Lukas Franck, a long-time instructor at the seeing Eye.  Lukas
>>>>>> trained my first two guide dogs--Deedee and Wayne.  Lukas also trained
>>>>>> wayne
>>>>>> and me as a team in 1991.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Margo and Arrow
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> http://www.youtube.com/user/seeing4me?feature=mhee#p/u/0/gwYHXNItSks
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
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>>>>>> 
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>>>>> 
>>>>> 
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> 
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