Celebrating the First Guide Dog at The Dot Experience

September is National Guide Dog Month. These furry companions play an integral role in ensuring their handlers who are blind or low vision travel safely and independently. At The Dot Experience, we celebrate guide dogs every day with an exhibit featuring the first-ever Seeing Eye dog, Buddy. 

About Buddy 

Originally named Kiss, Buddy was trained by Dorothy Harrison Eustis at a kennel for German shepherds called Fortunate Fields in Switzerland. Eustis, who normally prepared dogs for police work, agreed to raise Buddy to be a guide dog following a correspondence with Morris Frank of Nashville, Tennessee. From April until June of 1928, Frank trained with Buddy in Switzerland. An article in American Magazine in July 1930 described this time in Frank’s life: “‘Morris Frank opened my eyes to what a dog could mean to a blind man,’ says Mrs. Eustis, recalling his schooling with shepherd dogs in Switzerland. ‘He was resting one day after training and I heard him laugh for the first time. Then he said, ‘Mrs. Eustis, I’ve kept a smile on my face for five years because I had to, and now I can laugh because I want to.’ That’s what his dog had done for him.’” When Frank and Buddy arrived back in New York City, they proved their prowess as a team by crossing a busy street in front of news reporters. Morris Frank (Managing Director) and Dorothy Harrison Eustis (President) later co-founded The Seeing Eye, America’s first guide dog school, in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 29, 1929. 

Buddy at The Dot Experience 

Buddy’s harness, loaned to APH by The Seeing Eye, will be displayed behind glass in the 2nd Floor Gallery, “Who We Are,” at The Dot Experience. A life-size replica of Buddy as well as his harness will also be available for visitors to touch. 

Buddy’s Harness 

Buddy’s brown leather harness was designed with strength and utility in mind – the main girth strap wraps around Buddy’s body and fastens at the bottom with an adjustable buckle. The neck strap is hand-stitched to the girth on each side, with small leather loops underneath that hold the handle in place. A Martingale, or chest strap, is attached at the center front of the neck strap and extends downward, where it connects to the girth with a loop and adjustable buckle. 

The handle is constructed from thin leather folded over two thicker layers for reinforcement, then stitched together. A separate strip of thin leather is wrapped and stitched around the handhold to form a grip. The handle runs through loops on the sides of the girth and is secured by adjustable steel buckle straps connected to D-rings stitched to the neck strap. Riveted to the top of the handle are two enameled steel plates, each measuring 2.5 by 1.5 inches. Painted white with a blue cross, they are inscribed with the words: “The Seeing Eye, Nashville, Tennessee.” 

Buddy’s Statue 

Buddy will be sitting on harness on the gallery floor in a waiting, but ready pose. Incorporated into the piece, Buddy’s harness will be positioned at an angle meant to mimic the way a person who is blind or low vision would hold the handle as the dog works. Currently, Solid Light has made a 3D model of Buddy that they will use to 3D print her head and body. That printed form will serve as the base, but the final version will be cast and sculpted from rigid carving foam, then coated with a durable, paint-like finish. “The 3D model is finished, and we have just started to refine the model-to-sculpture process so that carving can soon begin,” said Ben Jett, Creative Team Director at Solid Light. We would like to thank the inclusive prototyping team for their feedback on the form of and textures on Buddy’s sculpture. Soon, the day will come when visitors can interact with Buddy’s exhibit in our gallery. 

To learn more about Buddy’s life, watch this YouTube video (targeted for young children) of a reading of Buddy, the First Seeing Eye Dog by Eva Moore illustrated by Don Bolognese. For the latest updates on The Dot Experience, follow us on Facebook.