The relationship between dogs and blind people dates back to ancient times. But its modern history began after the World War I when a German doctor trained them to help thousands of soldiers who lost their vision.

The world’s first training center was established in Potsdam, Germany, in 1921 and then other cities in the country as people began to learn about dogs’ ability to guide the blind. But the guide dog movement expanded internationally through a wealthy American woman named Dorothy Harrison Eustis.

She was already training dogs for the army, police and customs service in Switzerland but became interested in dogs for the blind after she heard about the successful venture in Potsdam. With her own experience in training dogs and apparently with her fortune, she established The Seeing Eye, the world’s first school dedicated to training guide dogs, in the United States in 1929. The guide dog movement reached Britain in 1930 and expanded quickly all over the country. Britain remains the center of the guide dog industry today.

Trainer Hong A-reum orders Muroo, a guide dog candidate, to find a ticket gate at Sunae Station in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald)

In 1973, training schools in Europe agreed to set up an international body in Reading, England, to standardize guidelines for the training of dogs and to teach blind people how to use them. The International Guide Dog Federation plays a pivotal role in exchanging and promoting good practice in the breeding and training of dogs as well as the education of their owners. The organization currently has over 80 members from 36 countries.

Samsung Guide Dog School for the Blind is the only Korean training center registered as an IGDF member since 1999.

Japan introduced its first guide dog in 1957. The first guide dog user in Korea was Lim An-soo, a professor at Daegu University, who brought a shepherd Sarah from the United States in 1972. There were a number of cases of guide dogs adopted from overseas after Lim. But the guide dog movement in Korea came later in 1993, when electronics giant Samsung jumped into the animal welfare program and started to promote public awareness of canine companionship.

Currently, there are about 10,000 guide dogs working in the United States, 5,000 in the United Kingdom and 1,000 in Japan. Korea has 60 guide dogs, all trained by Samsung.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)