Welcome to the SALDF Book Club! The Book Club is designed for students interested in engaging with and learning more about animal protection topics. The Book Club covers one book over the course of an academic year, with monthly meetings featuring special guests. Law students who register prior to the first meeting will receive a complimentary eBook of the selected book.

The 2026-2027 selection is…Lab Dog: A Beagle and His Human Investigate the Surprising World of Animal Research by Melanie D.G. Kaplan! Lab Dog blends memoir, investigative journalism, and animal law and policy questions through the story of Hammy, a former research beagle. This reading group is designed for monthly meetings that build from personal narrative and history into law, ethics, advocacy, science, and reform.

• Schedule:
  • Please note that all meeting times are from 12 – 1 p.m. PST / 3 – 4 p.m. EST
    • Wednesday, September 16, 2026: Meeting Hammy and Learning about Biomedical Research
      • Chapters 1-3: “Snoopy, Darwin, Linus, and Hammy,” “Where Do Beagles Come From?” and “Biomedical Research: Sniffing Out Answers.”
    • Wednesday, October 21, 2026: Public Health, Education, and Hidden Systems
      • Chapters 4-6: “The Food, the Drugs, and the Administration,” “The Chemicals: On Our Skin, in Our Bodies, Around Our Homes, on Our Pets,” and “Companions and Cadavers in the Classroom.”
    • Wednesday, November 18, 2026: Adoption, Liberation, and Life After the Lab
      • Chapters 7-9: “Adoptions: A Kinder Place to Animals,” “Liberation,” and “This is Where You Were Born.”
    • OFF December 2026 and January 2027
      • Please continue to read chapters for February.
    • Wednesday, February 17, 2027: Harmful Practices and “Necessity”
      • Chapters 10-11: “The “Good” Research” and “Revisiting.”
    • Wednesday, March 17, 2027: Reform, Accountability, and Advocacy
      • Chapters 12-13: “Agent Hamilton, Transparency, and the Troubled Middle” and “The Surrogate.”
    • Wednesday, April 21 2027: Final Thoughts with Author Melanie D.G. Kaplan
      • This will include wrap-up of any outstanding discussions and a Q&A with author Melanie D.G. Kaplan. We will also hear from the ALDF Legislative Affairs Team on follow-up action items students can take.