Often, when my partner looks at Rosco, our shepherd mix, with love in his eyes, he says something along the lines of, “I can’t believe he’s going to die one day.” At first, that kind of comment caught me off guard—why spoil a sweet moment with thoughts of death? But his sadness was so genuine and tender that eventually we found a solution: pet cloning. Back in 1962, The Jetsons predicted robot dogs would be the pets of the future (“no feeding, no bathing, no fleas!”), but it turns out the future of pet ownership might just be owning the same pet over and over again.

“I was heartbroken without Sammie, but I had mixed feelings about getting another dog,” Barbra Streisand wrote in her 2023 autobiography, My Name Is Barbra. Sammie was the EGOT winner’s Coton de Tulear who passed away in 2017 at age 14. She did end up getting another dog—a Coton de Tulear named Fanny from the same breeder—but through ViaGen Pets, Streisand also got two exact genetic copies of her beloved Sammie, named Violet and Scarlet. When I found out ViaGen is based in Austin, Texas—just a short drive from where my partner and Rosco live—I decided to look into it.

References to cloning in pop culture, starting with the 1973 sci-fi film The Clones, get the basics right. Once the company gets a live tissue sample, it’s frozen until needed. “When it’s time to actually clone, we remove the nucleus, the DNA, from the pet’s cells and from a dog egg, or oocyte,” explains Matt James, chief animal officer at Colossal Biosciences, which owns ViaGen. “We place the pet’s DNA into that egg to create a fertile embryo, then transfer the embryo into a surrogate dog, who carries it for about 65 days.” The whole process, from biopsy to birth, currently takes between nine and 15 months, including time on the wait-list, and costs $50,000 for one dog. The company also clones cats (the least popular option, also $50,000) and horses ($85,000). “There’s a real queue right now, I won’t sugarcoat that,” says James. ViaGen is currently the only US-based pet cloning company, but there are also options in China and South Korea.

Streisand isn’t the only celebrity to clone their dog. Last year, Tom Brady confirmed that his pit bull mix Junie was actually a clone of his late shelter pup, Lua. (That confirmation was probably strategic, since Brady is an investor in Colossal Biosciences.) It’s hard to find everyday people who’ve gone the cloning route, likely because choosing to replicate a pet—at huge expense—instead of adopting a living animal in need of a home is still somewhat frowned upon. An estimated 4.2 million dogs and cats were adopted last year, but around 6 million entered shelters and rescues. Our Rosco was found at a construction site. Would we be doing a disservice to his memory by paying for an exact genetic copy of him rather than rescuing another homeless dog?

My other worry is about that whole nature-versus-nurture thing. Yes, we could have a dog with Rosco’s uneven white face markings and golden-brown eyes, but would the copy act like the rescue we adopted at the start of the pandemic? It’s a concern James acknowledges. Cloning a pet means “getting the closest thing possible to the pet you loved,” he says. “But here’s the part I always want people to really think about: there are two things that make every animal, including us, unique. Nature and nurture. Cloning gives you the nature back, the exact genetic blueprint. The nurture part—everything that happens after birth—is unique to that individual animal every single time.” Streisand puts it another way: “It’s fascinating to see certain traits that remind me of Sammie,” she writes about her two cloned dogs. “Yet each of these beloved creatures is a unique being. You can clone the look of a dog but you can’tClone the soul.

Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about cloning a beloved dog written in a natural tone with clear simple answers

General Emotional Questions

1 I love my dog more than anything Does that mean I should clone him
No not automatically Loving your dog is a beautiful thing but cloning is a huge decision Its a scientific process not a magical way to get your exact same buddy back You should only consider it if you fully understand what youre getting and if you can afford it emotionally and financially

2 Will the clone be exactly the same dog
No it wont be a carbon copy of their personality A clone is a genetic twin like an identical twin born later They will look almost identical but their personality quirks and behaviors are shaped by their environment training and life experiences Your original dog was unique because of your life together

3 Is it disrespectful to my dogs memory to clone him
Thats a personal question Some people find comfort in it seeing it as a way to honor their dogs genetics Others feel its a way of trying to replace a loved one which can hinder the grieving process Theres no right or wrong answer it depends entirely on your feelings and intentions

4 Will cloning help me get over the grief of losing him
It might provide comfort but it wont erase your grief You will still mourn your original dog The clone might even be confusing at first because they look the same but act differently Its often better to work through your grief first before making such a big decision

The Science Process

5 How does dog cloning actually work
The most common method is called somatic cell nuclear transfer Scientists take a skin cell from your dog and an egg cell from a donor dog They remove the donor eggs DNA insert your dogs DNA into it and give it a small electric shock to make it start dividing Once it becomes an embryo its implanted into a surrogate mother dog who carries the puppies to birth

6 Is the process painful for the dogs involved
The process involves surgery to harvest eggs from donor females and to implant the embryos into surrogates These are surgical procedures that carry standard risks While the animals are under anesthesia