Paving the Way to Wellbeing; the First Nationally Recognized Assistance Dogs
“Who were the first canine pioneers who paved the way to wellbeing by showing us the positive impact that an assistance dog can have?”
Guide Dog Buddy (AKA Kiss)
In 1927, Morris Frank learned about dogs being trained in Germany to help soldiers who had been blinded in WWI. His father read an article about “Seeing Eye Dogs,” to him, as he was blind due to two accidents. Morris wrote to the author of this article, Dorothy Harrison Eustis, an American dog breeder and trainer living Switzerland, and asked that she train a dog to help him navigate his environment. She had never trained a dog like this before but agreed to try.
In 1928, at the age of 20, Morris Frank found himself in Switzerland being introduced to a female German Shepherd named Kiss. It was love at first sight but he decided to change her name to Buddy as he could not see himself calling her Kiss. After six weeks of training together, Morris and Buddy returned to America where reporters were amazed by Buddy as she guided Morris seamlessly through the busy streets of NYC. They became ambassadors for guide dog use and together with Dorothy Eustis, founded the Seeing Eye Dog Program located in Morristown, NJ. Morris Frank went on to have a total of six guide dogs in his lifetime and they all were named Buddy.
Hearing Dog Skippy
In 1969, 16-year-old Linda Pritchard from Colorado received a female German Shepherd as a pet. Linda named her new pup Skippy and found that she naturally sensed her human partner had a severe hearing loss. If Skippy heard an unusual sound, she would put her paw on Linda to alert her. Her parents decided to hire professional dog trainer Sally Terroux, to extend Skippy’s innate sensitivity to Linda’s deafness. She trained Skippy to alert Linda to a variety of sounds such as an alarm clock, a door knock, a whistling tea kettle and a smoke alarm. Skippy connected Linda to her environment. Skippy also was trained to behave in public for access granted under CO State law. At age 24, Linda would bring Skippy to work with her and on several occasions they flew together.
Due to the success of Hearing Dog Skippy, Linda was often asked to talk to reporters about the impact her hearing dog had on her life.
Hearing about this special “Hearing Ear Dog” the Director of the American Humane Association reached out to Linda. That meeting inspired the AHA to establish the first Hearing Dog Training Program in 1977 to determine if dogs could become the “ears” for those who were deaf, just like guide dogs had became the “eyes” for those who were blind. Master Trainer Agnes McGrath was hired to develop and run this program that continued to place Hearing Dogs until 1985 and then helped form Assistance Dogs International.
Service Dog Abdul
As Guide Dog teams and programs continued to multiply in the US and Hearing Dogs were becoming more widely accepted, a new Assistance Dog called a Service Dog was introduced by Dr. Bonnie Bergin at a program called Canine Companions for Independence in CA. When visiting Asia, Dr. Bergin saw a paralyzed man leaning on his donkey to get from place to place. She immediately thought, “dogs can do this.” When she returned to the US in 1975 she founded a training program to determine how dogs could assist those who were disabled.
A black Labrador/Golden Retriever mix named Abdul, which means helpful servant, was the first dog to graduate as a Service Dog. He excelled at picking up dropped items, turning on light switches, carrying items, and opening and closing doors.
He was matched with a young woman, Kerry Klaus, who used a wheelchair and became nationally recognized as the first Service Dog in the US. Once again people were amazed at what a well-trained dog could do to make the lives of their partners better and the demand for Service Dogs grew.
Buddy, Skippy and Abdul were the canine pioneers of the Assistance Dog Industry in the United States. With their exemplary training, gentle temperaments and devotion to the wellbeing of their human partners, they paved the way and spawned an industry that has placed Assistance Dogs in all corners of the globe. Thanks to these special dogs, their trainers and partners, Guide, Hearing and Service Dogs have helped tens of thousands of people gain their independence to live their best lives.
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Sheila O’Brien began her career in the Assistance Dog Industry in 1978 training Hearing Dogs. She created a canine test to assess the potential of shelter dogs for hearing dog work that is still used in the industry today. She became a Charter member of ADI and served four terms on the ADI Board of Directors as its 1st Vice President. She presently is serving a 5th term on the International Board and Chairs the Board of Directors for the North American Region. She serves on numerous committees and introduced many new concepts into the Assistance dog Industry. These achievements include: a voluntary “Program of Excellence” that that became the basis for the ADI accreditation standards, becoming an assessor, serving on the Accreditation Review Committee, leading a delegation to South Africa to further introduce the concept of assistance dogs, chairing the committees that created the standards for Prison Puppy Programs and military-related PTSD placements, and developing a service dog training program for wounded veterans, which developed into a Trauma Alert Dog program that also serviced veterans with PTSD. Presently she is working with the airlines as well as Senators and Congressmen to make the airlines accessible for all those who travel with Service Dogs.
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