Guide Dog Training Schools

The choice of where and how to train with a new guide dog is an important and highly personal one that requires considerable thought from a visually impaired person. There are guide dog schools that require the client spend up to three weeks training with their new dog, and other programs that bring a previously trained dog to the visually impaired person's home for the client to receive coaching in familiar surroundings.

  1. Guide Dogs of America

    • Guide Dogs of America provides guide dogs and coaching in their use for blind and visually impaired men and women from both the United States and Canada. The services and dogs that Guide Dogs of America provide are free of charge. The mission of this guide dog organization is to assist the visually impaired so that they can live as full and productive life as possible and achieve their goals with increased mobility and independence.

    Freedom Guide Dogs

    • Freedom Guide Dogs is a non-profit organization, based in Cassville, New York. This organization, which was founded in 1992 by Eric and Sharon Loori, breeds, raises, trains and places guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired. Freedom Guide Dogs use a home-based style of training program, through which they bring a previously trained guide dog to the home of the visually impaired person. Both the dog and its new owner then have the opportunity to train in an environment that is familiar to the visually impaired person. The Looris coach the dog and owner team for between two and three weeks. This program has proven to be successful and the Freedom Guide Dogs organization has in excess of 120 clients in 10 states throughout the Northeast. There is no cost to the client.

    Guide Dogs of Texas, Inc

    • The Guide Dogs of Texas was incorporated in 1989 and have facilities to house up to four clients at one time in their San Antonio training center. Staff and volunteers from the organization provide the clients with meals, housekeeping and companionship during their stay. The organization's a main goal is to provide their clients with a relaxed atmosphere in which they can focus on their dog and the required training.

    The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind

    • The Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind has operated since 1946 and provides guide dogs free of charge to their visually impaired clients. The typically small classes and individualized instruction offered by the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind attracts clients with special requirements, from both within the United States and from a number of foreign countries. This foundation is supported by donations.