S7E9: Dogs’ Health with Jessica Pierce

Feb 10, 2025

In this discussion, Jessica Pierce, a prominent bioethicist recognized for her insightful work on animal ethics, dives into the intricate world of dogs’ health. She tackles end-of-life care and the ethical dilemmas surrounding euthanasia, enriched by personal anecdotes. Jessica also emphasizes the divergent health needs of pet versus street dogs and critiques harmful breeding practices. The conversation highlights the profound human-dog bond, advocating for a compassionate lens on canine care that merges practical insights with philosophical inquiry.

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INSIGHT

Behavioral Health Vital for Dogs

Behavioral health is crucial for dogs to perform natural canine behaviors.
Training and confinement practices often harm dogs' behavioral health and well-being.

ANECDOTE

End-of-Life Care for Dog Odie

Jessica Pierce struggled with end-of-life decisions for her dog Odie who had neurological deficits.
She explored animal hospice to ethically manage his death process with care and respect.

ADVICE

Listen to Dog Communication

Dogs communicate their feelings through body and behavioral language.
Pay attention and learn to interpret these signals to better understand what dogs want.

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In this episode Jessica Pierce joins Claudia to explicitly discuss dogs’ health. They discuss everything from end-of-life care for dogs, to breeding practices, and discourses about dogs’ purpose in society. They unfurl some of the overlapping and similar health needs of street- versus pet-dogs and surmise that in general dogs are facing a range of both physical and psychological challenges.

Date Recorded: 2 September 2024.

Jessica Pierce is an American bioethicist known for her work in the field of animal ethics and the philosophy of human-animal relationships. She has written a number of books about dogs, including Who’s A Good Dog? And How to Be A Better Human, A Dog’s World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World without People (with Marc Bekoff), and Run, Spot, Run: The Ethics of Keeping Pets. Her passionate advocacy for the well-being of dogs has sparked global conversations and driven positive change in the way society perceives and treats our canine companions (website).

Featured:

Who’s A Good Dog? And How to Be A Better Human by Jessica Pierce
A Dog’s World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World without People by Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce
Dogpedia: A Brief Compendium of Canine Curiositiesby Jessica Pierce
Bioethics with Jeff Sebo on The Animal Turn Podcast
The Lessons of Death, A Conversation with Frank Ostaseski on the Sam Harris Podcast
A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron
Stray by Elizabeth Lo.

Thank you A.P.P.L.E for sponsoring this podcast; ROH Indies for sponsoring this season; Gordon Clarke for the bed music, Jeremy John for the logo, Rebecca Shen for design work, Priyanshu Thapliyal for the Animal Highlight, and Christiaan Mentz for audio editing.

A.P.P.L.E
Animals in Politics, Law, and Ethics researches how we live in interspecies societies and polities.

Remaking One Health (ROH) Indies
This project investigates people-dog interactions, dog ecology, and rabies prevention efforts in urb

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