Blind Woman and Guide-Dog

A blind woman named Lyudmila came to the school for training guide-dogs to have a close friend and a devoted aid in her everyday life.

Without a guide-dog the woman has to stay at home all the day long but she needs to go out and have walks. The woman lost her eyesight many years ago in an accident: some man assaulted her in the street, hit her in the face and seized her fur cap.

When Lyudmila realized that she could not see she even wanted to commit suicide as she could not imagine how to continue living and be unable to see the world around her.

Doctors persuaded her to give up her suicide ideas for the sake of her six children. Indeed, that was a really brave doing for the woman as she was 35 at that time. Now she has a guide-dog Lora.

The woman says they both fell in love with each other as soon as they met. She adds they are both very optimistic. The dog feels that it is really wanted and hopes that her new life with the blind master will be happy.

A guide-dog means not only rehabilitation for blind people; like any other human being a blind man also wants to have a loving and loved creature by his side. It is important for those who cannot see the world to touch and caress a dog and feel love and protection from the dog in response.

Humans originally began training guide-dogs began in Vienna in 1819. Systematic training was launched in Germany after WWI. In Russia, professional training of guide-dogs was started after WWII.

 Today, the training school in Kupavna is Russia's only organization that trains Seeing Eye dogs for the blind. Unfortunately it cannot satisfy the entire demand for guide-dogs in such a huge country as Russia.