Functional MRI of fully awake and unrestrained dog volunteers has been proven an effective tool in understanding the neural circuitry and functioning of the canine brain. Studies show that there exists a striking similarity between dogs and humans in the functioning of the caudate nucleus (associated with pleasure and emotion), and dogs experience positive emotions, empathic-like responses and demonstrate human bonding which, some scientists claim, may be at least comparable with human children.
This article therefore contends that using dogs in invasive and/or harmful research, and toxicity testing, cannot be ethically justifiable.