Guide Dogs for the Blind

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Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) is a guide dog school located in the United States, with campuses in San Rafael, California, and Boring, Oregon. It was founded in 1942 by Lois Merrihew and Don Donaldson^[2] to help veterans who had been blinded in World War II. Guide Dogs for the Blind has about 2100 Guide Dog teams across the United States and Canada.

Guide Dogs for the Blind was established in 1942 in response to the need for service dogs to help wounded servicemen that were coming back blind from World War II. The first building it operated in was a rented house in Los Gatos, California. The first dog to graduate through the program was a rescued German Shepherd named Blondie; she was paired with Sgt. Leonard Foulk.^[3] In 1947, the organization moved to their current location in San Rafael, California and in 1995 started a program at a second campus in Boring, Oregon. Today GDB is the largest guide dog school in the United States. This non-profit organization provides services to blind and visually impaired individuals from the United States and Canada for no cost including well-trained service dogs and the veterinary care that goes with them.^[4]