Get the Family Dog Cloned

Anonymous writes "Some of you may have seen 'The 6th Day,' the movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger a few years back. If you recall there was a 're-pet' cloning service to get your dog back if you ever lost them. Enter 'Best Friends Again': 'A US biotech company on Wednesday announced it will auction off the right for five dog owners to have their furry best friend cloned, with bidding starting at 100,000 dollars. "BioArts International ... will sell five dog cloning service slots to the general public via a worldwide online auction," the California-based biotech start-up said in a statement.'"

Comments

Or you could just breed your dog

[sakdoctor]

Let's face it, you are going to have to invest the time to re-train the clone, so isn't genetically descended almost identical to genetically-identical in practical terms?

Re:Or you could just breed your dog

[cephah]

Sure, but I doubt this is about anything but social status among rich people. Bragging about a cottage up in Aspen pales compared to having one of only five genetically cloned dogs.

Re:Or you could just breed your dog

[CastrTroy]

A dog is accurately described as man's best friend

I'm not sure how accurate that statement is. You don't hear stories of cats mauling their owners faces off. Sure a scratch or two, but nothing. Violence aside, raising a dog takes almost as much energy as raising a child, if you want to do it well. Even a well trained dog is only as independant as a 3-4 year old. If you want to have a dog, you might as well have a child. Cats on the other hand, are much more independent. Put food out for them, change the litter box every few days, and they are set. They are just as affectionate as dogs, and require much less maintenance. I'm not sure why more people prefer dogs.

Re:Or you could just breed your dog

[Sir Foxx]

Because my dog, and everyone I've ever had in my lifetime(9), will risk her life for me and my family defending us. She will not stop, until she is dead, if she feels we are threatened. No cat will/would do this. With dogs there is a true bond, with cats only an agreement.

Re:Or you could just breed your dog

[matt4077]

A cat always looks down on you. A dog always looks up to you.

A pig looks you in the eyes and recognizes you as an equal,

Here is the thing...

[hyperz69]

There is no promise your pet is going to be the same pet that left you. To me this spits in the face of nature. Not that I am against cloning, but to think you can bring a loved one... even in part back from the dead is a tragic notion.

I have seen this stuff before and remember the pet may not even come back looking the same. Even if they got it looking EXACTLY THE SAME, the memories, the personality, the... soul will not be the same.

All it will do is leave you missing your loved one more. Just let it go, and keep them in your heart. Mittens / Fido will always live on inside you *Yes yes sappy but it's true and you KNOW IT*

Re:Here is the thing...

[Eg0Death]

I totally agree with you. As much as I miss Cujo, Gus, and Scratch, I know cloning them won't bring really bring them back. Their respective personalities were formed by the people and events around them. I really wouldn't want to go through housebreaking Cujo again either . . . .

Re:Here is the thing...

[CastrTroy]

Assuming these are purebred dogs, what's the likelihood that you could just pick up another purebred that would be just as identical? How much genetic variation is there between purebred dogs? Would the differences between the cloned dog and the original be any less noticeable than between the original, and another dog of the same breed, or possibly the same lineage?

dead puppies

[Anonymous Coward]

So how many deformed and killed 'non viable' cloned puppies does it take to produce a successful one.

(Can you tell I am totally against this.)

Not lossless

[ultracool]

The cloning process is kind of lossy. A lot of mutations can occur in the process, and as a result the cloned animal is likely to be unhealthy.

Re:Not lossless

[setagllib]

Regular mating is pretty lossy too. For all we know, advancements in cloning experimentation could lead to improvements in conception safety.

It may even be the case that we will be able to submit genetic samples from two partners, regardless of gender, and have a technological process create the new genome and begin its gestation. We may even be able to select parameters in the process, such as selecting gender and which traits to inherit.

I prefer to see this as the next step up for medicine, not as "playing God". We've come a long way from caves and flint axes, and it's only the fundamentalists and conservatives who insist what we have is where it should end.

Doesn't make much sense for me

[Dirk Becher]

I would rather get another dog and try to make his individual being love and respect me as the old one did and try to love and respect him for what he is. Cloning cheapens the value of the individual existence. The reason why people want copies is so they can forget about the original.

Get a Lab

[Doc Ruby]

A Labrador retriever, that is. They all look more or less exactly the same, and have exactly the same friendly personality.

Or just brave the wilds of adopting a new random dog. There's already way too many of them for anyone's good, without cloning up more in the world.

These cloning fees should include a $1000 donation to a programme that neuters 20 other dogs. If we're going to clone biodiversity out of the gene pool, we might as well get aggressive. After all, it's a dog eat dog world.