Success Stories
Diana and Ava

Ava, a golden retriever mix, was rescued from the Wilkes County Animal Shelter when she was 10 weeks old. Soon after, Ava was diagnosed with Parvo and was one very sick puppy; but she remained resilient and survived this often deadly infection.

At age 4 months, Ava went to her wonderful puppy home at the Lowes'. Katrina, Perry, Jessica and Perry Jr. housebroke her, taught her manners, basic obedience, and exposed her to many situations. Special attention was given Ava by Jessica who worked hard to make Ava the best she could be. It takes special people to be a puppy home provider knowing they will have to give the puppy back. They cannot be thanked enough for this act of kindness and love.

At the age of one year, Ava was returned to New Life Mobility Assistance Dogs to begin her formal training. Ava was a quick study at learning automatic door buttons, turning light switches on and off, retrieving dropped items and the phone, opening the refrigerator door, and doing money exchanges at cash registers. Ava proved herself to be a real problem solver and after six months training was ready to be matched with someone.

Along came Diana Robbins for Ava. Anyone who has the pleasure to meet Diana readily knows that delight has come into their lives. Diana is quick with a smile and she loves to live her life to its fullest. Music quickly brings out her dance moves and going really fast in her electric wheelchair. Riding the elevators generates her whee-yoo! sound and you know Diana is having fun. You can't help but smile at her enjoyment of life. It was exciting to see Diana's attention span extend from "Can we take a break?" after two or three tries at skills with Ava, to the point where she would ask "want me to do it again?" and her subsequent exclamation, "look at what Ava can do!"

Diana and Ava developed an understanding and a shared lingo between the two of them. After a few unsuccessful attempts with Ava handing Diana her leash, we all shared moments of comic relief when we would hear Diana tell Ava, "Hurry up, Ava, I don't have all day, you know." Lo and behold the leash would arrive in Diana's hand.

One also can't help but get a kick out of Ava's stop and flop each time Diana stops her chair.
Diana's mom Dela and dad Steve cannot be thanked enough for their support and help in the pairing of this team. Steve was very instrumental in helping Diana with the positioning of her chair, learning her commands and making Ava listen to them. Noticeable improvement was made between each training session. Steve and Dela's added dedication to making the team a success is to be applauded.

Dela is quite often heard saying that "Diana and Ava are so cute together and quite the pair." Who will ever forget the tears in Dela's eyes as she watched Diana and Ava successfully ride the glass elevator at Hanes Mall for the first time all by themselves!

The consensus is that Diana has grown up a lot in the last four months since being paired with Ava. When Diana started high school, Karen and Mike went to Ava and Diana's first day together at high school. They wanted to remain as obscure as possible to watch the team in their school setting without distracting them. If someone had filmed Karen and Mike, they would have seen them hiding them behind doors, water fountains, and garbage cans like a "Where's Waldo" skit.
We knew the team was going to be found just after the following episode. We heard Diana ask the class if they wanted to see what Ava could do for her. Diana proceeded to drop a pencil. We heard her telling Ava to "take it" then "Ava, no," then she repeated the command, "take it, Ava." Mike peeked and saw Ava keep trying to give Diana her leash instead of the pencil. Diana was persistent until a few more take its. Suddenly, we heard the classroom erupt in applause. Ava had delivered the pencil to Diana's hand!