In part two of my Beagle blog I will be addressing the question:  Do the beagles being tested endure the same pain as humans would while undergoing testing?

In a study conducted by Goldsmiths, University of London it is suggested that dogs express empathetic behavior around humans. This evidence in support of my hunch is interestingly conducted with dogs. I was unable to discover what kind of dogs the animals appeared to be. In my previous article, it was was discussed that Beagles were one of the most popular breed for lab use because of their friendly, docile, trusting, forgiving, people-pleasing personalities (About Beagle Freedom Project). This leads me to believe that if the experiment were conducted on this specific breed, the results would be more significant to the correlation between animal emotions and human emotions, thus proving animal testing completely inhumane.

In the study, “Eighteen pet dogs, spanning a range of ages and breeds, were exposed to four separate 20-second experimental conditions in which either the dog’s owner or an unfamiliar person pretended to cry, hummed in an odd manner, or carried out a casual conversation,” (Press Release, Goldsmiths, University of London).

The results were unbelievable when the dogs seemed to identify what the person was experiencing. More dogs approached humans who were crying rather than humming regardless to whether or not it was their owner.

Because the study is observational, the researchers cannot simply imply correlation equals causation. The flaws of the study seem to lie in the small amount of dogs actually being used, as well as, an inconsideration for other confounding variables that might excite the dogs. Even the pitch of the humans humming and crying can easily vary from human to human creating vastly different results. So Is this really an accurate description of dogs and their emotions?

Some scientists might struggle with the obstacle of animal testing believing the only way to know if animals, specifically dogs, are submissive to pain is directly testing them. But, I believe this study, without animal testing, is a great foundation for the future studies related to it. It shows that some correlations between humans and animals can be taken seriously enough to make people consider their actions on any breed. Hopefully, more studies will be conducted proving there is a reason that dogs are a man’s best friend.

References:

“About Beagle Freedom Project.” ARME’s Beagle Freedom Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.beaglefreedomproject.org/about>.

“Press Release, Goldsmiths, University of London.” Press Release, Goldsmiths, University of London. N.p., 07 June 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://www.gold.ac.uk/news/pressrelease/?releaseID=947>.