Morris Frank of Nashville, Tennessee was 16 years old when he
lost his sight in a fight at school. Frustrated with his inability to get
around independently, he set out for Switzerland, spending several
weeks there, learning to work with a female German shepherd who
was originally named Kiss. Frank changed her name to Buddy, later 
feeling that it was a much more appropriate name for her. All of his
subsequent dogs were also called Buddy. 

 


Morris Frank, the first American to use a Seeing Eye dog, with
Buddy, the first Seeing Eye dog, and Dorothy Harrison Eustis,
the founder of the Seeing Eye, Morristown, 1928.