Blind people have traveled with dogs as companions and protectors for thousands of years. As far as is known, the first person to train dogs specifically to guide the blind was Johann Klein, founder of the Institute for the Training of the Blind in Vienna. He published a book on their training and use in 1819.

The first systematic training of dogs for the purpose of companions and guides for those who had lost their sight began following the first World War. A special school for educating selected dogs was established in Germany to help cope with the rehabilitation of the many thousand of people who were blinded in that war.

By 1925, the success of this school, which had been adopted by the German Red Cross, became known in other parts of the world.

An American living in Switzerland, Mrs. Dorothy Eustis, who specialized in breeding and training of dogs for police work, visited the German school. She was so impressed she wrote an article for the influential Saturday Evening Post and in 1929 subsequently assisted a young American to travel to Switzerland and acquire a dog. Eventually a school was set up in New Jersey with the support of Mrs. Eustis, two Guide Dog trainers who had graduated from a new school in Lausanne went to America, one to Italy and another to a school which had already been set up in a modest way in Great Britain. It is interesting that a founder of the English guide dog training system was a Russian emigrant officer Nikolai Lyakhov. There is a book written about it and English people highly appreciate his contribution into the forming of the national system of guide dog training.

Professional training of guide dogs in our country started after the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Lots of young physically healthy people lost their sight because of their wounds received at the front line. Many of them were experts in different areas. However, it became a problem for them to get a job and go back to normal life. Special schools and colleges were opened for their social and work rehabilitation. While learning new professions vision impaired people had to get freedom to move, stop being dependant on other people's help. And not only on the routes they knew well. Only specially trained guide dogs could provide such independence and mobility. First Guide Dogs have been trained in 1947 in the Central Service Dog-Breeding School and were passed to the wounded in the Second World War.

But only in 1960 the Board of the All-Russia Organization for the Blind ("AROB") created a Central Republican Guide Dog School ("School"). Experts in dog breeding were invited to participate in creating the School. They were officers that have fought on the war and had a unique experience of training and using dogs on the front line. They have trained dogs that were searching for mines, medical dogs and these that have taken wounded out of the front line and delivered ammunitions. Of course, it was a completely different type of training but these people had trained dogs that had to work in real life. Guide Dogs also work in a difficult and always changing environment. And this is very important because Guide Dog trainers had to learn many things from a scratch. At first the School was based on the outskirts of Moscow, in Veshnyaki. After some time it moved to Moscow Region village Kupavna, where it still exists.

It is now called the Republican School for Rehabilitation of the Blind and training of Guide Dogs. Nikolay Orekhov is the first director of the School. His colleagues – Nikolai Latushkin, Afanasyi Kupriyanov, Nefyod Gnenkov. We remember them. Only thanks to their persistence, knowledge and experience it was possible to create such an unusual organization. They created it. A little later the younger once came – Victor Machkov, Mikhail Rybkin, Ekaterina Ushkova, Tatiana Makeenko. After Nikolay Orekhov retired the School was not as lucky with its heads. Three people have changed on that post. They were not professional dog breeders which often hindered work.

However, a lot has changes in the past years. These were changes for the better. From cold wooden cages and the only wooden house which had everything (office, trainers, vision impaired people) to big warm cages and modern computerized office. Even the worm of training gods and vision impaired people has changed. The German training methods that have been used at the beginning have been changed with time. We took into consideration particularities of working in Russia, as well as wishes of the vision impaired people and our experience. The School developed its own training programs, tests, breeding of puppies for the Guide Dog service, training programs for vision impaired people. We learned modern training methods of our colleagues from abroad. The School has trained a few Guide Dogs for Sweden. That was thanks to our generation of Guide Dog Trainers.

Here we must mention a person that for the last decade was the driving force of what we did. Svetlana Bochkovskaya worked at the School for almost 20 years, in the last years as a Deputy Director. She initiated and was actively involved in most of the School projects. It's been almost 3 years since she died but only thanks to her we continue our work.

The School was the only one in the country and trained Guide Dogs for the whole Soviet Union. At its best times it trained more than 100 Guide Dogs for vision impaired people.

There was a huge demand for Guide Dogs. Some vision impaired people had waited for their Guide Dog for a few years.

In the nineties the School's financial situation became critical. It was on the verge of closing. The School belongs to AROB and it can do anything with it. So, two thirds of Guide Dog Trainers have been made redundant. Others left themselves. The School still exists, its financial position stabilized, although the amount of Guide Dogs trained has decreased.

So it happened that the Guide Dog Trainers have been discharged from work to which they dedicated many year of their life. So, in 1998 they have organized their own school that trains dogs for disabled people. Starting February 2003 it was officially registered an independent non-commercial organization "Training Center Dogs as Assistants for Disabled People". Our Center trains Guide Dogs for vision impaired people and Assistant Dogs for other disabled people.

In the same 1998 a Partner Guide Dog School was opened in Ekaterinbourg with the assistance of our Center. It was meant to train Guide Dogs for vision impaired people that leave in the western regions of Russia. They trained 4 Guide Dogs that work successfully in Ekaterinbourg. Unfortunately, the Partner School had to close since it didn't get any financial assistance. You could help them to restart their work.

Unfortunately, numerous attempts to open Guide Dog Schools in other Russian cities fail for various reasons.

There is always demand for Guide Dogs. Of course it depends on economic situation of the country. In the most difficult years disabled people could not afford to have a Guide Dog. Now the demand for Guide Dogs is growing. For many people their Guide Dogs is their best friend. More and more disabled people ask us to train dogs for them.

So from its birthplace in Vienna to the Far East of Russia, Guide Dogs have changed the lives of countless people with vision impairment. We are proud to continue the proud history of Guide Dogs here, enabling people with vision impairment to live safely and independently in Russia.