Samsung’s canine love rewarded as its guide dog school turns 30

Back in the 1990s, South Korea was internationally denounced as a country where people eat dog meat.

People hardly recognized nor paid attention to the need to have guide dogs for visually impaired people, let alone raising them as pets or lifetime companions. For many Koreans, dogs were just dogs.

“Why raise dogs when there are people who are starving?” was the reaction when Samsung Group decided to establish a guide dog training center in 1993.

In an unpublished essay, the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, father of the current Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong, wrote: “How many welfare organizations a society has doesn’t matter if the public casts a cold eye on blind people when they step out onto the street. That’s not a true welfare society.”

Under Lee Kun-hee’s initiative, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. established the Samsung Guide Dog School in September 1993 – Korea’s first such organization run by a business enterprise.

On Tuesday, Samsung held a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the school’s launch, attended by the current Samsung leader, known as Jay Y. Lee in the international community, and his mother Hong Ra-hee.

The event was also attended by blind owners of guide dogs, "puppy walkers," volunteers criticial in guide dogs' early training, and others who wish to adopt retired guide dogs, as well as opposition party lawmaker Kim Ye-ji, who is blind herself, Samsung Fire Chief Executive Hong Won-hak, and Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyoo-hong.

“The late chairman (Lee Kun-hee) would have been happy if he were here. He really worked hard to achieve this,” said Hong at the ceremony held at the Samsung Guide Dog School in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.

FROM PUPPY TO LIFELONG COMPANION

Benchmarking training methods from established guide dog institutions in Europe and the US, the Samsung Guide Dog School began training guide dogs in 1993 and produced its first graduate, Bada, in 1994.

In 1999, the guide dog school was officially certified by the International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF) and became a member.

The Samsung school has since produced 12-15 guide dogs every year and 280 have been adopted so far. Currently, 76 guide dogs are on active duty, according to Samsung.

Training a puppy to become a guide dog is challenging.

From birth through their first encounters with their owners and up until their retirement, training a single guide dog requires the dedicated efforts of not just one trainer, but a large group of people – not to mention the dogs themselves. Socialization training, for example, is a must for guide dogs, Samsung said.

PUPPY WALKING

Training a guide dog begins with "puppy walking." At around seven weeks of age, the puppies are entrusted to volunteers and undergo various socialization activities. The puppy walkers care for them for around a year and help with different training procedures at home and at nearby parks, as well as in crowded indoor places such as restaurants and cafes.

Once they finish the entire training process, the puppies undergo a test to ascertain whether they are fit to become guide dogs.

Guide dogs that retire after seven to eight years of service become rehomed with volunteers to enjoy their retirement, Samsung said.

810,000 KILOMETERS IN 30 YEARS

Over the past 30 years, Samsung’s guide dog trainers at the school have covered a distance of about 810,000 kilometers while walking with prospective guide dogs – a distance longer than going from Earth to the moon and back, plus an additional lap around the Earth's circumference.

At Tuesday’s ceremony in Yongin, William Thornton, the IGDF chairman, thanked Samsung for 30 years of dedication to guide dog training.

He praised Samsung's efforts in legalizing guide dogs in Korean society and turning its school into a globally recognized institution.

After years of Samsung’s efforts to raise public awareness of guide dogs, the Korean government and National Assembly amended related laws in 2000 to penalize airlines and other transportation operators for refusing guide dogs' entry.

Write to Ye-Rin Choi at rambutan@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.