A Memorial to the Kingdom of Dogs

Our memorial gathers together all the names of the dogs we have discovered in the course of researching this exhibition. 
Listen to this page 

A record of the names of some of Pavlov’s dogs

The names of many of Pavlov’s dogs survive in historical archives, and here we bring them all together in one place for the first time, presented as a memorial.

A memorial to the kingdom of dogs. Image: Matt Adams 

Why a memorial?

Naming is a significant act — a direct way of challenging the objectification of experimental animals.

How can we put the animal in the foreground of animal behaviour research, recognising their critical role in science and their individuality? One possibility is by naming the animals.
Volsche, S., Root‐​Gutteridge, H., Korzeniowska, A. T., & Horowitz, A. (2023). Centring individual animals to improve research and citation practices. Biological Reviews, 98(2), 421–433.

The hundred or so names in the memorial represent just a fraction of the countless dogs that spent their lives in Pavlov’s laboratories, and the millions of experimental animals in the past and today, that have found themselves the subjects of research.

Imagining an alternative memorial for the grounds of the Institute of Experimental Medicine. Photo: Mark Hawdon. 

Our memorial is not a celebration or valorisation of their sacrifice. It is an attempt to recognise the extent of Pavlov’s animal experiment enterprise and personalise the dogs involved.

Hear more about why naming experimental animals matters