The modern history of guide dogs started in Germany in 1916-17 when the dogs were trained to lead soldiers blinded in the WWI. The story says that a doctor was called away from his blind patient and left his German shepherd with the man. He was so impressed by the dog’s behaviour that he decided to start experimenting in training the dogs to be guides for the blind patients.

By 1923 a guide dog training centre had been established in Potsdam. Then the school named the Seeing Eye was established in 1929 in the United States. Great Britain followed suit in 1931with The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. The first guide dogs in Britain were German Shepherds.

Three breeds are used for guide dog programs around the world - Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, and German Shepherds. The Labrador Retriever is the most successful breed used for guide dogs. Any guide dog should meet three basic requirements: willingness, health and temperament.

The training starts when the dog is about eight weeks old. The puppies are taught basic obedience and socialization by volunteers. Volunteer puppy walkers introduce the young pups to the sights, sounds and smells of a world, the pups are taken on buses and trains, into shops and along busy streets, taught to walk ahead on the leash and to obey commands such as ‘sit’, ‘down’, ‘stay’ and ‘come’.

However, dogs are partially (red-green) color blind and can't read traffic lights. The dog's owner learns to judge the movement of traffic by its sounds, but the dog will not carry out the owner’s command until it is safe to do so.

Matching the correct dog with the correct owner also takes up to four weeks of intensive training. When matching the dog and the owner, the owner’s length of stride, height and lifestyle are to be taken into account. The average working life for a guide dog is 7-8 years.