Jan. 29 is Seeing Eye Dog Day, says Adopt and Shop, and we're happy to hear it, because these guys absolutely deserve to be celebrated. Jan 29, 1939 was the day that the first guide dog training school in America opened in Nashville.
At Pets Happy Zone, we just love guide dogs.
It's incredible what seeing eye dogs do for their owners. They're extensively trained, raised often from birth to be seeing eye dogs, and they become a crucial part of allowing visually impaired or blind people to live independent lives.
Watch the video below, by The Seeing Eye's YouTube channel, in which two seeing eye graduates talk about their experience and how much their dogs mean to them. It's truly heartwarming and amazing to see what these dogs can do.
Seeing eye dogs are exceptionally smart, caring and trainable. The video below shows us part of the rigorous training process that teaches these wonderful animals to be aware that they are leading someone through their life.
The trust between the owners and their dogs is something beautiful to behold; they take animal-human friendships to another level.
Training institutes like Seeing Eye and Guide Dogs of America run mostly on donations, and each dog takes about $45,000-60,000 to train, reported The New York Times, and the dogs are given for free to those who need them. For this reason, we urge you to take today, Seeing Eye Dog Day, as an opportunity to contribute any amount to an organization like these, or to consider volunteering.
Hug a seeing eye dog today, but make sure he's off duty first!
