University of Mississippi English professor Ben McClelland recently finished editing a book on the impact of a local service dog program.
The book, “Lifesaving Labradors: Stories from Families with Wildrose Diabetic Alert Dogs,” will be released in March. The book details the program’s origins and the effects these dogs have on their companions’ lives.
Mike Stewart bought Wildrose Kennels, a company that breeds and trains British labradors, in 1999. He moved the company from Grand Junction, Tenn., to Oxford when he bought the company.
Stewart retired from his position as chief of police at Ole Miss in 2000. Since then, he has been training British labradors as sporting companions using a reinforcement-based regimen that refrains from the use of shock collars. Stewart calls his method the Wildrose Way. Under Stewart, Wildrose produced Ducks Unlimited’s first two mascots, Drake and Deke. In 2009, Forbes featured Stewart on the cover, hailing his business as recession-proof.
It was a driven mother in search of an answer, though, who helped Stewart realize his dogs’ potential to help those with Type 1 diabetes.
Doctors diagnosed 11-year-old Abi Thornton with Type 1 diabetes in 2004. In April 2005, she suffered a grand mal seizure from nighttime hypoglycemia.
Eventually, Abi Thornton’s mother, Rachel Thornton, acquired Mr. Darcy, a Wildrose labrador, through a connection she made during her research into service dogs, and became Mr. Darcy’s handler. With the help of a local trainer, Rachel Thornton trained the dog to detect and warn her about her daughter’s extreme blood glucose levels.
Stewart said that the dogs can help people like Abi Thornton by giving them an indication of what their glucose levels are before they test them with a meter.
“The dogs can be anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour ahead of the meter,” Stewart said. “That doesn’t mean you stop testing, but it gives a more calm lifestyle.”
After helping Thornton, the Wildrose staff began its Diabetic Alert Dog (DAD) program.
Wildrose Diabetic Alert Dogs range from 7-week-old puppies with diabetic scent exposure to fully started Diabetic Alert Dogs that have completed obedience and public access training. The kennel established a local network, including the CREATE Foundation in Tupelo and local diabetic Sharon Stinson, to help them apply their expertise to the goal of supplying quality, reliable service dogs.
Since 2008, Wildrose has hosted several conferences on the subject and established the Wildrose Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation to support programs in the development of Diabetic Alert Dogs for individuals with Type 1 diabetes. McClelland has donated all royalties from “Lifesaving Labradors” to the foundation.
McClelland first heard of Stewart and Wildrose while working with his wife on professional development collaborations between the university and local public schools. Before becoming vice president of Wildrose Kennels, Cathy Stewart taught second-grade students at Lafayette Elementary School.
McClelland began his work with Wildrose while on leave from the university in 2011.
“I was fascinated by the soft training method that Mike developed, that differed significantly from the harsher, American method,” McClelland said.
Rather than simply seeking a dog from Wildrose, McClelland wanted to write about the kennel’s unique methods. He began training with a black British labrador named Eider and quickly fell in love.
“It’s been great watching Ben grow in our training methodology, and there is no one better to bring our DAD stories to thousands,” said Ben Summerall, Wildrose trainer and senior business major.
Ultimately, the staff at Wildrose decided the most important narrative to tell was that of their Diabetic Alert Dog program.
“The bond between these dogs and their Type 1 diabetics is the tightest I’ve ever observed in my life,” McClelland said of the stories he researched for the book.
Currently, McClelland is marketing the book and spreading the stories of the dogs and families that fill its pages. He still makes it out to the kennel several times a week, however, and is constantly on the lookout for new ideas and projects to pursue.
