Book Review: Lab Dog (Beagle)

Lab Dog, A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research, by Melanie Kaplan (Hachette, $32, 2025, 344 pp HB)

A Long Book that Covers Everything Dog

From research to companions, cadavers and adoptions, author Melanie Kaplan must have spent 10 years researching this book. And her rescue Beagle Hammy went along, too, for most of her interview trips across the country.

I'm not a barky Beagle fan. At least I wasn't until I was confronted with the relationship Kaplan had with her dog and although I'm a Lab and Golden Retriever person, I may just look into the Beagle world.

Part non-fiction, part memoir, part name dropping , part research summaries, Lab Dog has the admiration of canine behavior people, most of them PhDs, less so in the world of veterinary research. though. Change happens slowly.

I thought Lab Dog would be a gory tearjerker but Kaplan tells about research animals (and their scientists) with humor and caring. However, I give you, dear reader, permission to skim chapters 3-5 since they are quite repetitive with experiment after experiment and chock full of science. A cursory read will suffice.

Kaplan is a talented writer when it comes to human interest stories (the ending to this book is a real tear jerker). Although I am a scientist, I felt some parts of the book (chemistry, the FDA)  could be shortened. 

Basically, Kaplan adopts a Beagle and wonders about his history. Did he live in a small cage in a noisy research kennel? Was he subjected to hurtful experimentation and, if so, did the technicians consider the dogs mere "things"?

As Kaplan (and Hammy) learn about research and rescue on animals, dogs, Beagles and Hammy himself, Kaplan searches for two things: Hammy's personal story and someone in his former life seeking forgiveness (restorative justice). And Kaplan herself grows as she learns she already has the answers. 

Ethical Reality Check

I would have liked to know more about the three R's of replacement of animals with non-animal models, reduction in the number of animals used and refinement of the process by minimizing pain and suffering. I would have liked to learn more bout the four pillars of ethics: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice (p 302).

But, on the whole, if you want to know more about animal experimentation (dog, Beagle) Lab Dog is a great place to start knowing who's who in the field - the veterinarians, the universities and other research facilities. And the dogs, of course. Hopefully there will be fewer research dogs in the future as test tube and petri dish models proliferate.

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Fun Facts

It takes an average of 14 years for a drug's approval

Of the drugs that show promise in pre-clinical studies (a euphemism for animal studies), more than 95% fail in human clinical trials, because they prove toxic or ineffective in humans

Until 2021, new drugs for Alzheimer's came with a 99.6% failure rate.

The average cost of each drug that makes it to market is more than $1 billion

And, finally, read this book and meet PBM, Peanut Butter Man!