Dorthy Eustis
A hidden figure

Loading...

Who is Dorothy Eustis?

Loading...

Dorothy Eustis was born on May 30 1886 and was an American dog breeder and a philanthropist. She was the first person to train and make a seeing-eye dog school.

Loading...

Loading...

Loading...

Loading...

Dorthy Eustis was the sixth and youngest child of businessman and philanthropist Charles Custis Harrison and his wife Ellen Nixon Waln Harrison.

Loading...

Dorthy Eustis Early life

Loading...

Loading...

Loading...

Dorthy Eustis was the sixth and youngest child of businessman and philanthropist Charles Custis Harrison and his wife Ellen Nixon Waln Harrison.

What made Dorthy Eustis do the thing she did?

After she got married with her first husband Walter Abbott Wood Jr. She got her first dog that was a German shepherd named Hans which was the inspiration for her to make the seeing eye school and train dogs!

What was a challenge in her life?

A turning point in Eustis' life came Oct. 8, 1915, when husband Walter died of complications from typhoid fever, making her a 29-year-old widow with two young children, ages 1 and 8.

What made her famous?

On November 5, 1927, The Saturday Evening Post published an article by Eustis about a school outside Berlin that trained German war veterans who had been blinded by mustard gas in World War I.

“Is what you say really true?’’ Frank wrote. “If so, I want one of those dogs! And I am not alone. Thousands of blind like me abhor being dependent on others. Help me and I will help them. Train me and I will bring back my dog and show people here how a blind man can be absolutely on his own. We can then set up an instruction center in this country to give all those here who want it a chance at a new life."

More imformation

 Eustis invited Frank to Switzerland, where he spent five weeks learning to work with Buddy, the first of his six dog guides (all named Buddy). A year later, in December 1928, Eustis and Frank launched The Seeing Eye in Frank’s hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.

For the first three years of its existence, The Seeing Eye had no permanent facility, so trainers traveled to different cities to hold their classes. That changed in 1931 when Eustis purchased a ten-bedroom mansion in Whippany, New Jersey that had enough room to house students while they were learning to work with their dogs.