Lab Dog
What Global Science Owes American Beagles
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- $31.99
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- $31.99
Publisher Description
Tracing over a century of transformation in the relationship between humans and our “best friend,” from hunting companion to laboratory commodity to modern pet.
Intrepid, docile, and cloaked in coats of white, black, and tan, beagles were one of the most popular breeds in the United States in the twentieth century. From Snoopy to dog shows, many Americans loved and identified with beagles. But during the same period, as scientists searched for a standard research dog, beagles emerged as something else: an ideal animal for laboratory experimentation.
In Lab Dog, historian Brad Bolman explains how the laboratory dog became a subject of intense focus for twentieth-century scientists and charts the beagle’s surprising trajectory through global science. Following beagles as they moved from eugenics to radiobiology, pharmaceutical testing to Alzheimer’s studies, Lab Dog sheds new light on pivotal stories of twentieth-century science, including the Manhattan Project, tobacco controversies, contraceptive testing, and behavioral genetics research. Bolman shows how these experiments shaped our understanding of dogs as intelligent companions who deserve moral protection and socialization—and in some cases, daily medication. Compelling and accessible, Lab Dog tells the thorny story of the participation of beagles in science, including both their sacrifices and their contributions, and offers a glimpse into the future of animal experimentation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this illuminating and at times grim debut study, Princeton historian of science Bolman explores how the beagle came to be considered the ideal dog for laboratory experiments. In the 1950s, scientists on the hunt for a more "human-like" alternative to lab rats landed on the breed as the easiest to control ("pliable, cheery, and loyal"). Beagles were soon being used to test risks to human health ranging from nuclear radiation and tobacco smoke to oral contraceptives. Bolman describes how puppy-mill breeders mass produced the dogs, which were "sacrificed in substantial quantities" until rising opposition to animal testing led to a 21st-century decline in the practice. Today, animal welfare groups advocate for the thousands of beagles still experimented on in labs to be released for adoption rather than euthanized. Meanwhile, beagles have begun to be used for wide-scale testing of Alzheimer's treatments under a new model where their owners volunteer to administer the drugs at home. Throughout, Bolman keeps a nuanced focus on how the beagle's trajectory sheds light on what it means for an animal to be considered more "human" than others, and on how the practices of breeders and kennel clubs intertwined in surprising ways with those of scientific research institutions. The result is an intriguing deconstruction of a little discussed, ethically complex issue.
