I had a rather frustrating conversation with a friend on this topic, she was of the opinion that cloning her pet dog meant that if he died she could have him back again. She didn’t seem to grasp that a clone would merely be physically identical not that it would have the same personality and memories of her pet.*
Even understanding that this is the case would you still want a clone of your pet assuming the process was relatively inexpensive (which it isn’t!).
*personally I blame Hollywood
Personality I can accept – if you raised your dog from a young pup, then it stands to reason that another pup with the same DNA raised in the same environment would likely have a similar personality. But did she honestly think that the clone would have the same memories?
I can see the appeal; I’ve had a 50% track record with dogs from the pound. I might rather clone a known-good dog than toss the dice with another rescue dog. But personally, I wouldn’t do it. I’d miss out on the joy of getting to know a new friend.
animals of the same breed already are rather alike, which perhaps renders the question quite pointless unless you use the sci-fi definition of clone.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3076908/ns/health-cloning/ It won’t even be physically identical!
We’ve discussed this here before, and I said no. My baby is the best dog ever but she’s got some physical problems that I would not want to deal with again - or have a dog suffer through again.
She can’t be replaced - why settle for some inferior copy with the same health issues? Boo!
No. When it’s their time to go it’s their time to go, and I will always have my memories to cherish. A clone is simply that - a clone - not my best friend.
I say yes. He’s a pretty unique mutt mix I’ve never seen before and a great personality to boot. I like to take credit for at least some of his personality.
Realistically I would love to have a little action figure made to look just like him. My kids have a bunch of animal figures they play with, but the dogs they have are all regular boring old breeds.
No. I want my pet to live forever. Failing that, I want a different pet. There are countless animals with good personalities, it would be ridiculous to think I need to create one with science. And I want to give a home to an animal who needs one.
Yes. I lost my soul mate kitty at 19, so genetics aren’t a problem. I recognize that a clone wouldn’t be exact, and I’d think of it as more like a sibling to my kitty, but I’d love to have a piece of her with me.
Exact same with me. My first thought was yes, I want my long lost german shorthair back. But not really, it would be a different animal even if it were identical in everyway. I will just find new ones to love.
Frankly, the world doesn’t need more animals. I wouldn’t clone my cat for the same reason I wouldn’t want her to breed - there are a depressing amount of animals out there who need a home without me making more. Plus, chances are the environmental factors when raising the pet wouldn’t be exactly the same, so a different personality would emerge. Having a genetically identical copy of a beloved pet that has a different personality would be . . . strange.
When. WHEN he died. No wonder it was a frustrating conversation: basic facts were not in order.
To answer the OP: no. For all the reasons everyone who’s already said the same has already shared. Hell, I wouldn’t want a clone of my beloved dead husband, let alone a dog or cat, even though they were all respectively the best dude, childhood dog, and kitteh this planet has ever known.
Probably not.
Unless they fixed the myriad issues with cloning, you would end up with an animal which would be exceptionally short-lived meaning that you would go through the same heartache again when they died.
I love Gordie, but why would I want another 46lbs. Jack Russell mutant?
Oh hell no! I love my dog dearly but geeze-laweeze she is annoying.
I don’t think I would but Guide Dogs, who owned her for the first six years of her life, would. She produced a lot of good Guides and two breeders, so I bet they’d like to give her another go around. Since she was the product of a selective breeding and rigorous training process, chances are the clone would be good also.
“If” is appropriate in this context, because the owner could die before the dog.
This American Life had an interesting story in their first TV episode about a cloned Brahman bull. It didn’t turn out so well. If you can track it down, give it a watch:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/tv-archives/season-one/reality-check
They also had the story in their normal radio show (starts about half way though):
wguy123 beat me to the link, and I absolutely agree with Blackberry. Not only are there countless other dogs out there that need to be rescued and I can provide a home for, but I would be worried that I would place unreasonable expectations on either Tilly2.0 or Toby2.0. I don’t like it when I get frustrated at them for misbehaving in ways they understand (as much as a dog understands), I’d hate to get frustrated at them for not behaving like their counterpart.
Tilly and Toby are very cute pet names! If I ever get another male pet, I plan to name him Toby.