Assistive technology is a part of daily life for 41-year-old Luis “Gus” Estrella. While his power wheelchair and his voice output device help him get around and express himself, there is one assistive device that is not battery powered – his service dog.

    
Thanks to the donors from The Eric Fund, Gus will be getting a new service dog, a beautiful yellow lab named Yukon, to replace his beloved service dog, Boz, an 11-year-old Gus Estrella chocolate lab. Boz has been with Gus for more than seven years, but due to some medical problems, Boz needs to retire as he can no longer fulfill his service dog duties.  Gus and his wife, Laura Jane, plan to transition Boz, who walked Laura Jane down the aisle at their wedding, to family pet.

    
Yukon will help Gus maintain the independence he has fought for all of

his life and live daily life with less human assistance. Gus, who has cerebral palsy, is a disability advocate who worked in the government and public policy department at a major non-profit until last year, when surgical complications put him on long term disability. With Boz unable to keep up with his current needs, Yukon will help Gus as well as Laura Jane, who also has disabilities, with important tasks such as picking up and retrieving dropped of needed items, turning lights on and off,

pulling or putting the breaks on a manual wheelchair, carrying items in a backpack, opening doors, assisting with dressing and balance, and putting Gus’s money pouch on counters when he busy something at the store. “I found the freedom I didn’t know was possible,” said Gus of his service dog experience.

Gus and Yukon have already been working together and doing great, according to Yukon’s trainer, Lydia Wade-Driver, Executive Director of Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs. And, she says, Boz is not jealous at all, but in fact, has been helping Yukon meet Gus’s needs.  “If Yukon is not getting something Gus is saying during a training session, after a few times, Boz goes out there and shows him how it’s done. It’s really great to see,” said Wade-Driver.

    
Gus is thrilled to welcome Yukon to his family – hopefully in late January if training continues to go well. In addition to daily tasks, Gus looks forward to Yukon joining him when he does some of his favorite things “such as going out for dinner at different restaurants and exploring the many different malls in the area which must have a Starbucks in them.” But, according to Gus, there is one way that Boz helped him that Yukon cannot. “I can’t say Yukon will help me pick up women,” says Gus. “That’s is one hobby I had to drop when I got married!”