Author Event & Doggy Discussion: Lab Dog by Melanie D.G. Kaplan

Join us at The Footlight Club for a puppy love-filled book talk with Melanie Kaplan, author of Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research, in conversation with Andrew Ryan (of The Boston Globe) and four fabulous beagles!

Lab Dog, praised as “remarkable” by the late Dr. Jane Goodall, is the story of a beagle’s past and the future of animal research. When journalist Melanie D.G. Kaplan adopted her beagle Hammy, all she knew was that he had spent nearly four years in a research lab. Curious to know more about this gentle creature’s past, as well as the broader world of animal research, Kaplan—with Hammy in tow—embarks on a quest for answers. How did Hammy end up in a research facility? Why are we still using millions of animals a year in experiments? What have we learned from them? Is there another way?

In Lab Dog, Kaplan investigates the breeding and use of beagles for biomedical research, drug and product testing, and education. She takes readers on a journey, peeking behind laboratory doors and visiting with researchers, activists, ethicists, veterinarians, lawmakers, and innovators. Along the way, she finds thoughtful and caring humans on all sides of the debate, explores promising developments in nonanimal testing, and discovers puzzle pieces from Hammy’s past. Equal parts journalism and love story, Lab Dog offers a nuanced view on our relationship with a species that we both love and exploit, and a reason to hope for a better future for all.

Melanie D. G. Kaplan is a longtime independent journalist whose travel and science writing has appeared in The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and National Parks magazine. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School, a 2021–2022 MIT Knight Science Journalism fellow, and a third-generation Washington, DC, native. Kaplan has lived most of her life with hounds.

Andrew Ryan has been an investigative reporter at the Boston Globe for nearly a decade. He was part of the teams behind two of the Globe’s award-winning, investigative podcasts: “Murder in Boston” and “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.” As a member of the Spotlight Team, he was a 2018 Pulitzer finalist in Local Reporting for a series examining race in Boston. He previously worked for the Associated Press, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The Day of New London, Conn., Highbridge Horizon in the Bronx, and tended bar at the Landor Pub in London and The Whisky River in Dubuque, IA.

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