Tail Wagging Dogs

To be sure that we took proper care of our dissection dogs, they started us off with a speech about showing respect. The anatomy professors pointed out how we should behave like professionals (for instance, not walk into the lab and go "Eeeeeeeeeeew smells disgusting!"). They explained how we only have one dog to last five people for the whole year, so if we didn't take care of it, we would be losing our learning material permanently. They described how much time and effort went into preparing the cadavres.

Because this is a pretty important point, it was reiterated often. Not too far into the semester, we were given a lecture about why these dogs deserved our respect. They were dogs that had to be euthanised due to society's failings. For example, a dog that had been bred for fighting and was rescued: it couldn't be re-homed because of the danger it might attack someone. The anatomy faculty stressed how they had personally been the ones to euthanise them, to see them as happy, tail wagging dogs, alive, and then how they had personally spent months of their time preserving them and making them suitable for our dissections (for example, filling the blood vessels with latex so we can identify arteries or veins).

This is a very touching concept and you can see why the dogs do deserve respect. Imagine having to put down a normal, cheerful dog, just because of a latent possibility of danger. Imagine pouring effort into preserving it, making its death worthwhile by advancing the learning of students. Then imagine some 19 year old waltzing into the lab, going up to your hard work, and complaining, "Eew it's disgusting!" Or imagine a group that didn't bother to store it properly, letting it to dry out or rot.

All that is very serious. However, the "happy, tail-wagging dog" spiel was recited to us over, and over, and over, and over. The first time, I thought it was pretty moving. Eventually it was like "Oh god, not again." Now, we often joke with each other, saying "You're being very unprofessional!" or "Show the dog some respect, it used to be a happy, tail-wagging dog!"

(This is of course in response to something said in jest, we do actually treat our dissection dog very well).