Last week, when the President signed the massive $900 billion 2026 Defense policy bill into law, dogs and cats got an early Christmas gift. Tucked into the legislation was a measure that cuts Department of Defense funding for painful experiments on dogs and cats.
Thanks to bipartisan bills like this and widespread public opposition, the use of dogs in harmful experiments in the U.S. is at a historic low.
I’m a professor who conducts research on the psychological harms caused to animals in laboratories. As I presented at a bipartisan Congressional briefing last year, 43,000 dogs were held in research facilities, down from an all-time high of over 211,000 50 years ago.
If the current rate of decline continues, dog testing could end within the next decade. Why wait? Now is the time to stop this shameful practice of experimenting on America’s favorite pet and give the tens of thousands of dogs still locked in laboratories the second chance they deserve.
I recently had the pleasure of visiting Kindness Ranch, an animal sanctuary in Wyoming that provides homes for dogs, cats, and other animals fortunate enough to be retired from laboratories, rather than killed. While there, I had the rare experience of witnessing a timid beagle named Denver, who cowered in his corner seemingly terrified of everything, take his first steps ever outdoors after being rescued from a laboratory.
When it came time to help Denver try and break out of his shell, an animal care staffer lovingly lifted him up and fitted him with a harness, while I rubbed his soft ear, replete with a tattoo of his laboratory ID number, a stark reminder of where he came from. We carried him outside and gently set him down in the grass in a large fenced-in area and stepped back.
At first, Denver stood still and squinted his eyes as the cold wind blew on his face, not knowing what to do. Then, he cautiously lifted one paw, paused, and placed it down. Next, the other paw. Then, inch by inch, slowly high-stepped through the grass. Soon, his tiptoe became a walk, and then a trot through the field as he occasionally looked back for reassurance. Over the course of just 20 minutes, I watched Denver learn what freedom felt like. All dogs in laboratories should have the same opportunity to go from “lab dogs” to “lap dogs.” Thankfully, recent changes in federal policy are hastening its end.
Before Congress cut funding for the DOD’s dog and cat testing, in May, the U.S. Navy completely banned dog and cat testing. This followed the example Congress set when it eliminated dog and cat use at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
In July, officials at the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s top funder of animal experiments, publicly stated that they’re working to “phase out” experiments on dogs and cats. The NIH also announced that it will finally allow grant funding to be spent on re-homing dogs and other animals from research, an expenditure previously prohibited by the agency. This meant that previously many healthy, adoptable animals were needlessly killed by federally-funded labs because of a lack of resources or knowledge about retirement options.
Fortunately, my own research shows that lab animal retirement is sound science and policy. In a first-of-its-kind study, I compared the psychological and behavioral characteristics of more than 300 adopted former lab beagles and non-lab beagles. As featured in the new book Lab Dog, I found that dogs rescued from labs exhibited increased fearfulness and abnormal behaviors. But they were significantly less aggressive than their non-lab counterparts, and less likely to run away or chase other animals or cars. More importantly, I also found no significant differences on most of the behaviors assessed.
My findings demonstrate that despite some residual fear and anxiety from their early-life experiences, dogs like Denver can adjust to living in homes, form strong bonds with their caregivers, and make equally good companions as other beagles do.
In addition to being good science, ending outdated and cruel experiments on dogs and retiring the survivors has broad backing from the public and from lawmakers across the political spectrum.
After speaking at the House briefing last year organized by White Coat Waste and co-hosted by Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) and Dina Titus (D-NV), I had the pleasure of seeing right-wing Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and progressive Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) spontaneously bond in the hallway over a rescued beagle.
Dogs have been loyal companions to humans for over 10,000 years. Now, we should return the favor by unlocking their cages.