Welcome to the American Story. Mostly true stories about what it is that makes America beautiful.

Heartbreaking, funny, inspiring, and endlessly interesting.

This is Chris Flannery with the Claremont Institute.

I call this one.

Man's Best Friend

America takes pride in being a land of opportunity for everyone, including those who suffer the impairments of nature, accident, or tragedy.

For those with disabilities, local communities can be supportive.

Smart technology can assist.

Government can do some things to give them a hand up. Above all, there is the spirit and determination of the individual.

And for the blind, there are guide dogs.

Guide dogs were introduced to the United States in the 1920s

by a young blind America named Morris Frank, who traveled to Switzerland when he heard that German troops

blinded during World War I, using dogs trained to aid them.

There are now about 20 Guide Dog Schools in the United States. The schools are non-profit and receive no government funding. They have full-time staffs,

but depend on charitable contributions, volunteers, and

community support. It costs in the neighborhood of $70,000 for a school to

breed, raise, and train each working dog and its blind human partner,

who is charged little or nothing.

Thanks to these efforts, about 10,000 guide dog teens are currently working in the United States.

Why so much cost?

Well, it takes a village to create a guide dog.

The dogs are specially bred or selected by the schools.

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