Research Methods in Life Sciences Commons^™

Letter To Editor: Journal Editorial Vindicates Vivisectionists, Pat Allan

International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems

M.W. Fox's editorial, "The 'Show Dog' Syndrome" (IJSAP 3(1):3, 1982) cannot help but be extremely upsetting to any person who wants to see the particularly sadistic and useless experiments involving sentient beings recognized as such. I am referring to Fox's reference to Overmeier's "learned helplessness" experiments involving intense unavoidable electrical shock administered to dogs. Through reference to these kinds of experiments, Fox lends credibility to them; it would seem there is no other way to understand the "show dog" syndrome from a scientific perspective. Fox therefore

validates Overmeier's research and others who engage in similar research.