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                      THE FIRST GUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND                     
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The first guide dogs for the blind were trained in 1916 by the Austrian War  
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Dog Institute. The original instigator of the project was the director of a  
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sanatorium. One of the doctor's patients was a young German officer, partial-
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ly paralysed, whom he used to accompany for remedial walks in the grounds. On
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one occasion the doctor was called away in the middle of their walk and the  
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patient tried to continue on his own. His unsteady progress was watched by   
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the director's dog, who then disappeared in the direction of the sanatorium  
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building and returned with the officer's walking-stick. When the doctor came 
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back he saw the dog gently leading his patient over the lawn to the house.   
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The idea that dogs of such superior intelligence and adaptibility could be   
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systematically trained to perform similar service for the blind led first to 
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the experiments inaugurated in 1916, and at the end of the war to the setting
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up of a permanent training centre at Potsdam under government auspices.      
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