The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent more than $15 million in taxpayer dollars since 1991 funding a laboratory at the University of Washington (UW) that deliberately breeds dogs to suffer from a fatal, crippling disease — and it needs to stop now.

Researchers at UW have maintained a colony of dogs with the canine version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) — a progressive disease that causes muscle degeneration, weakness, and death. These animals are not accidental research subjects. They are intentionally bred to be sick. Once inside the lab, they endure repeated muscle injections — up to 50 injections per muscle — intravenous injections of experimental substances, repeated muscle biopsies, and painful nerve stimulation testing. Videos and documents obtained through public records requests show dogs limping, struggling to move, and unable to control basic bodily functions. After months of experiments, they are killed so their tissues can be analyzed.

The NIH granted another $655,475 to this program as recently as April 2025. That funding is set to expire — and the agency is considering renewing it. American taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for this.

What makes this even harder to accept is that the NIH has previously signaled its commitment to phasing out painful dog and cat experiments. This lab is a direct contradiction of that promise. The current grant's expiration is an opportunity to finally follow through — and we're calling on the NIH to take it.

Dogs are not laboratory equipment. They are sentient beings capable of fear, pain, and distress. Deliberately breeding them to suffer, subjecting them to invasive procedures as their health deteriorates, and then killing them is not acceptable — especially when non-animal research methods are increasingly available and viable.

The NIH must not renew funding for the University of Washington dog experiments. Stop the money. Stop the suffering.