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Because of this article, a blind man named Morris Frank wrote to Eustis to ask her if he could bring guide dogs to the United States. She agreed and trained a dog named Buddy for Frank. Buddy is believed to be the first guide dog in America. In 1929, Eustis went on to create the first Seeing Eye school in the United States, which was located in Whippany, New Jersey. She eventually opened up another Seeing Eye center in Switzerland. Eustis went on to inspire others to create their own schools for Seeing Eye dogs. It wasn’t until the 1960s that dogs began to be trained to provide services to people with other disabilities. While there was no official program, people began to train canines to assist those with hearing impairments by alerting them to important noises. By the 1970s, official training centers began to offer these types of dogs. Since then, dogs have been trained to assist people with mobility issues, and also those with autism. The ever-expanding role of service dogs throughout history shows that dogs are capable of doing amazing things. What Are Service Dogs? The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) created a legal definition within the United States as to what a service dog was. In 2010, this definition was updated. According to the ADA, “Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with a mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained

What Is a Service Dog?

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