BVA supports National Guide Dog Month during September! While a formal annual celebration of guide dogs in the United States may be relatively new, historians and anthropologists trace the domestication of dogs to approximately 150,000 years ago. Ancient artifacts and scrolls show instances in which dogs were guiding their human companions.

The first attempt to train guide dogs was in Paris at the ‘Les Quinze-Vingts’ hospital for the blind. The founder of the Institute for the Education of the Blind, ‘Blinden-Erziehungs-Institut’ in Vienna, Johann Wilhelm Klein, wrote about guide dogs in his book published in 1819. This provides evidence that dogs have been helping humans for a long time.

After World War I, when many soldiers returned blind, the use of guide dogs became more prevalent than ever before. The demand for this service prompted the opening of the first school for guide dogs in Oldenburg, Germany. Dog trainer Dorothy Harrison Eustis is attributed with bringing the first guide dog to America, and Eustis later established the ‘Seeing Eye School’ in Morristown, New Jersey.

Actor, comedian, businessman, and animal rights advocate Dick Van Patten was the inspiration behind National Guide Dog Month.

During a visit to the campus of the Guide Dogs of the Desert in Palm Springs, California, Van Patten was blindfolded with a trained guide dog. He admired the intelligence and training of dogs to improve the standards of life for those living without sight, but he also became aware of the time (up to two years), energy, and cost (more than $40,000 at the time) that went into training them. He decided to act on his impressions and raise awareness and monetary support for guide dog schools.

Van Patten owned a pet food company that underwrote all costs for the promotion of National Guide Dog Month. The first guide dog fundraiser was in Southern California with the support of the Petco Foundation. Thanks to Van Patten’s effort, many guide dog organizations accredited by the International Guide Dog Federation have become beneficiaries of month-long events that began in May 2009. However, in 2010, National Guide Dog Month was moved to September due to conflicts with other national fundraising drives. It is now firmly established in September.