In the autumn 1940, funded by the Finnish Red Cross and with the help of Swedish experts, the first guide dogs were provided to disabled soldiers, who had lost their sight during the Winter War.
Training guide dogs had started in Sweden a couple of years earlier. A German guide dog instructor, Fritz Dominick, taught the Swedish how to train guide dogs. He was also coming to Finland in 1939, but the war ruined the plans. In the summer of 1940 Swedes donated five half-trained German Shepherds to Finland. A Swedish instructor, Lars Svartengren, came to Finland with the dogs to teach the Finns how to train guide dogs. Cooperation training was also given to persons blinded in the war. The dogs were trained in Military Dog School (Sotakoirakoulu) in Hämeenlinna and the first cooperation courses were held in the home for the disabled of the Finnish Red Cross in Helsinki.
The Finnish Red Cross paid for the training of guide dogs for several years. The dogs were trained by military dog instructors, who worked under Finnish Association of Working Dogs (Suomen Palveluskoiraliitto).
Gradually the responsibility of training guide dogs shifted to The Blinded Veterans Association (Sotasokeat ry.) and Disabled War Veterans Association of Finland (Sotainvalidien Veljesliiton). In 1947 a modern guide dog school was completed in Mäkkylä, Espoo. The Mäkkylä guide dog school was maintained by Disabled War Veterans Association of Finland until 1976 when Guide Dog Foundation (Opaskoirasäätiö) took over. The school served under Guide Dog Foundation until 1985, when Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired (FFVI) took responsibility of the school.
Building a new guide dog school became actual in the 1980's, because the facilities were in bad repair and cramped for space. Under FFVI's order plans were made for a new school to be built, and it was completed in Itä-Hakkila, Vantaa in 1987.
The facility of the guide dog school in Itä-Hakkila can take 50 adult dogs and four litters of puppies. The school also has an office building and four apartments for the staff. It has been planned to build a course centre and extensions for breeding and raising dogs.