Recently, a Florida couple spent $155,000 to clone Lancelot, their Labrador Retriever after he passed away. Six years prior, the couple froze Lancelot’s DNA, which they used to have Lancelot reborn. 

Loss is apart of life. Loss breeds courage, creativity and growth. There are dogs in need of a good home, dogs are being put down everyday because they aren’t adopted. A wealthy couple with 12 acres of land in Florida should consider adopting another companion or even donating some of that money to an animal shelter. And while I’m sure the clone looked like Lancelot and maybe he did instintively recognize his owners, could this new dog really be what his owners missed about the original Lancelot?

I like to think that Maisey’s charm comes from her experiences. I believe she is such a loving and appreciative dog because she was rescued from a shelter. Those characteristics aren’t hard wired into her DNA, they are the result of her life experiences. A clone of Maisey would look like her, maybe smell like her, and probably share some of her characteristics, but it wouldn’t be the Maisey I know.

One of the joys of getting a new dog is watching their personality traits develop and discovering the strange quirks they have. Some of these characteristics are based in their DNA (hence the differences in behavior bewteen breeds), but just like a person, personalities are largely the result of our experiences.

I realize I’m on the edge of the highly debatable nature vs. nuture argument here, but I think that proves my point. A human being cannot be fully duplicated. The nature and nurture cocktail is simply too complex to reproduce – and the same thing goes for our dogs.