04/29/2026
April 29th honors the focused work that guide dogs accomplish around the globe each day. We are featuring Michigan's Leader Dogs for the Blind school.
Leader Dog was founded on April 4, 1939, by three members of the Uptown Lions Club of Detroit: Charles A. Nutting, Donald P. Schurr and S.A. Dodge. They were inspired by a fellow Lion, Dr. Glenn “Doc” Wheeler, and his desire for a guide dog after he lost his sight. The group purchased a small farm in Rochester Hills, Michigan, for $1 plus the mortgage, later expanding it to the current 14-acre campus.
The first class graduated in October 1939 at a cost of $600 per client-dog team, with $150 initially paid by the client. Client payments ended in 1958 to provide services at no cost to clients. In 1991, Leader Dog started the first-ever guide dog program for people who are Deaf or Blind. By 2002, we had piloted our orientation & mobility (O&M) program, making us the first guide dog organization to offer O&M instruction. And in 2024, our team introduced Spanish language instruction to Spanish-speaking clients in the United States and Canada.
