What if you could clone your dog? Would you do it?

Barbra Streisand did just that! Not only did she do it once, she did it twice! When her beloved Samantha, a Coton du Tulear died at age 14 in 2017, she had cells taken from the dog’s stomach and mouth. From those cells. she has two new puppies, Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett. Even though they are cloned from Samantha, they have different personalities. Streisand says she is waiting for them to get older, so she can see if they have Samantha’s brown eyes or seriousness. Besides the two cloned pooches, Streisand also has a third puppy who is a distant cousin of Samantha’s.

Photo Source; Instagram

A little research tells me that cloning your dog costs about $50,000, while cloning your cat is a bargain at only $25,000. Beyond cost, I have some concerns about cloning animals.

Dolly, the infamous cloned sheep, developed crippling knee arthritis at age five, and died at the age of 6 from lung disease and other health issues. Some speculated that it was because she was cloned from an animal that was nearly 7 years old,  that caused her to develop these conditions so early. The normal life expectancy of a Finn-Dorset sheep is about 11-12 years.

I personally would not do this, I don’t think it is worth the risk of bringing an animal into the world who may suffer and have a poor quality of life. There are so many dogs that need homes, and in this case, she already had a new puppy that was a distant cousin of her beloved Samantha. I imagine Babs could have bought 2 more puppies from that same breeder, if she wanted dogs that would be related to Samantha.

Coton du Tulear Puppy ( Not Barbara’s)

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.