Lesson 14 The Future: Is Man Dog's Best Friend?

 This past semester we have looked at many aspects of our relationships with dogs. From the origin of our relationship to modern day how we view and view dogs has changed vastly. This will continue in the future. In the last chapter of Dog by Susan McHugh explores the future of this relationship. 

One of the parts that I found the most fascinating and polarizing is the use of dogs in scientific research. This is one of the things that we don't think of in our relationship with dogs. We use dogs in scientific research often but only hear about some of the experiments. Because of this the dog becomes invisible compared to the mice and rabbits that occupy the idea of a test subject. 

The experimenter becomes the experiment

Source: Here

So what is to do? Stoping animal testing is the first idea that comes to mind. But let's be honest I don't think people would try drugs and surgeries that were only theoretical. People are scared of something that doesn't have clear consequences for what is happening. The drugs could also not work and hurt people. This would cause many of problems and likely some Law Suits.

So what else is there to do? 

I don't know. There are many good things that have come from using animals in scientific experiments. There has also been a fair amount of harm and cruelty. The problem is there isn't a very viable option now. If there was one I would suggest it, but I also don't think there is any work to change this. Finding new ways to safely test and continue scientific discovery is important but it will take time.