Did anyone watch "I cloned my pet" on TLC?

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

Did anyone watch this?I wish I had 50,000 to 100,000 dollars to clone my dog.I guess from what the owners said that their clone is the real deal.I better start saving up my pennies.The one thing i wonder though is,wont the serogate mother give some of her DNA,ect to the puppy.If so the puppy will not be the exact same dog as your old one.I dont know it was crazy.What are your thoughts on this and would you do it if you had at least 50,000 dollars to spare?

[BG and Gavin]

I saw something about this on one of the news programs.  The big issue was that the cloning is done is a country (maybe Korea?) that has different "norms" around how pets are treated.  The surrogate mother lives her life on a "farm" that would not come near what we would think is proper for a dog and once it had out-lived its usefulness it is killed and used for meat.  On that basis alone I could not even consider it.

[Becka]

If I had that much money to spare, think of all the dogs in shelters I could help. I understand loving your dog so much that you want it to live forever, but cloning a pet baffles me--it's a clone--it's not the same dog. And isn't part of what makes our bonds to our pets (and each other) so special is that we know it won't be forever, so we must try to live in the moment as much as possible?

[Adina P]

I can see how it would be tempting if you have that once in a lifetime dog...but still it is a little creepy, especially given the cost.  I could not justify spending that much money, but to each his own.

As sad and heart breaking as it is to only have a wonderful dog for 15 years or so (super heart breaking), since that IS the way it is then I would rather have a chance to experience several dogs in my lifetime than to just get the same one over and over from puppyhood and on. 

[L.M.]

There are about 50,000 other things I could think of to spend $50,000 dollars on!  We are messing with nature here.... life is meant to run its course...we can't just pick up where we left off upon losing a beloved pet by replacing it with one that looks just like it.  

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Very interesting. I think I'll stick with all my pictures and videos of my dogs so I will always have that-I wouldn't expect it to be exactly the same.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

The people that would be willing to spend this type of money on a clone - they are not well adjusted.  I believe that they they "buy" the life of their pet back but more stable person realizes that with life - comes death - there is no other way.  They think they can skirt the issue but they can't.  Truely sad.

[Heather Martinez]

I would not do this. I don't believe the dog would be the same because it's not raised in the same environment. In 15 years I will be different; I'll probably live in a different house, in a different neighborhood, I may have less time and energy, and I'll have much more experience raising dogs than I did when I got Teddy. So although the dog would be genetically identical, I don't believe it would turn out exactly the same (maybe better, maybe just different). Also, there were issues with the cloned sheep, and dog cloning has basically stopped in the US because of the difficulty and expense. I haven't read too much about why the cloned sheep had problems, but I wouldn't risk it for $50,000 to try to replicate a dog.

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

Here's something even more crazy, in my opinion. Once I saw a show where a guy had his dead dog stuffed and exhibited in his house. Don't know about that. Cloning starting to look much better compared to this, LOL.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

I just saw that as well, one guy had his stuffed and in a position like he was getting ready to run with a big scary look on his face, then he strapped that poor stuffed animal on the back of his motorcycle....it was so weird!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

I didn't watch the show but saw her on Good Morning America....NUTS! When she said she does this and that just like her Trouble, I thought, um so does Daisy...wonder if they are cloned.

This is just nuts!

[Beth and Gang]

The surrogate Moms seem to live in the labs, with little if any REAL interaction with life outside that lab. I am sure this would be stressful, and that would have some effect on the pregnancy. I hope they follow up on the clones to see how much they are like their original dog, a few yrs down the road.

Why was the one owner in prison for the next 10 yrs of her life? She won't even be able to enjoy her new cloned pet! One prison visit wouldn't be enough for me!

I've been a happy dog owner all my life, loved each dog I was blessed to have as family. I don't think I would have  clone any one of them if I had the $ or dog today. Each one brought something special to my life, during our time together.