3 ms·

I have a dog, have lost dogs in the past, and understand how sad it is. But man, there are so many dogs in shelters getting killed because of overcrowding that

I have a dog, have lost dogs in the past, and understand how sad it is. But man, there are so many dogs in shelters getting killed because of overcrowding that it boggles my mind that people can be so selfishly fixated on their needs that they don't think about the costs of their decisions (suffering of the surrogate dogs, the clones that don't make it, and the disgustingly high monetary costs here). Life is full of death and sadness, people and animals you care deeply about don't live forever. Being able to deal with grief and continue living your life is an important skill to develop. I'm not sure that grasping to maintain what is ultimately unmaintainable is a healthy way of handling it. The clone won't be the same dog, if anything it's going to make it harder to grieve and move on with your life.

tjr225 8y ago
It is incredibly strange. A few years ago, I lost an absolutely beloved dog(black lab) to cancer after owning her for only 4 years...she wasn't even 8 years old. The most powerful takeaway for me was that in spite of how little time I spent with her, she enriched my life incredibly...it seems so detached from reality to try to artificially extend that experience...
russdill 8y ago
Absolutely, but the concept still has a "neat" factor. I have a mixed breed dog that I adopted from the shelter, picked up as a stray. He'd clearly been abused and was scared of quite a long list of things, including the smell of alcohol. He's really come out of his shell and is now a super cool dog and loves to meet new people. He has a very unique coat and I have a ton of people ask what breed he is. Producing a clone would not produce the same dog, but it'd be like one of his littermates. It'd be pretty neat to give that roll of the DNA dice another shot, see what kind of dog comes out of it. The suffering involved in the cloning process is a huge turn off though and makes it a no go for me.
GuiA 8y ago
Can the same argument be applied to adopting children over biologically conceiving them?
- therein 8y ago
  To a certain extent. Certainly some people might have a more rigid stance towards parenting a child that is not theirs from birth compared to this situation.
r_smart 8y ago
I have two rescues and think it is good if people adopt more of them, but I also thinks it's wrong to shift the moral condemnation to people who want dogs (puppies, clones or whatever) from whoever is abusing these dogs in the first place. I'm not angry when nobody wants to adopt a dog, I'm angry because somebody treated them so poorly in the first place. Owning a dog isn't a human need, so getting one just to treat it like trash -- and have it wind up in a shelter -- is disgusting. Not to mention rescues can come with a lot of problems, physiologically and psychologically. I can understand why people might shy away.
- discreditable 8y ago
  As a rescue dog owner this article made me wonder how different he could be if I had the chance to raise him with love instead of neglect. Then I realized a clone would look the same but it could be an entirely different dog otherwise.
  - r_smart 8y ago
    Yeah, I got wondering the same things. One of our dogs is getting older, and we love her so much. I wouldn't, and couldn't afford to, do something like this, but I can understand why people might. How different would she end up? There are a lot of mannerisms that seem pretty common to beagles, and then there's some of the weird stuff she does that is unique to her. Would we lose all that? Would it feel weird having a dog that looked just like her but acted different?
doctorRetro 8y ago
Agreed, agreed, agreed. Given that cloning an animal doesn't recreate the personality - same goes for Humans, of course - if you miss your beloved Rex, there's zero guarantee you'll get another Rex if you clone him, which sort of defeats the purpose. And the number of shelter dogs is heart breaking. Give one of them a good home.

tjr225 8y ago

It is incredibly strange. A few years ago, I lost an absolutely beloved dog(black lab) to cancer after owning her for only 4 years...she wasn't even 8 years old. The most powerful takeaway for me was that in spite of how little time I spent with her, she enriched my life incredibly...it seems so detached from reality to try to artificially extend that experience...

russdill 8y ago

Absolutely, but the concept still has a "neat" factor. I have a mixed breed dog that I adopted from the shelter, picked up as a stray. He'd clearly been abused and was scared of quite a long list of things, including the smell of alcohol. He's really come out of his shell and is now a super cool dog and loves to meet new people. He has a very unique coat and I have a ton of people ask what breed he is. Producing a clone would not produce the same dog, but it'd be like one of his littermates. It'd be pretty neat to give that roll of the DNA dice another shot, see what kind of dog comes out of it. The suffering involved in the cloning process is a huge turn off though and makes it a no go for me.

GuiA 8y ago

Can the same argument be applied to adopting children over biologically conceiving them?

therein 8y ago
To a certain extent. Certainly some people might have a more rigid stance towards parenting a child that is not theirs from birth compared to this situation.

r_smart 8y ago

I have two rescues and think it is good if people adopt more of them, but I also thinks it's wrong to shift the moral condemnation to people who want dogs (puppies, clones or whatever) from whoever is abusing these dogs in the first place. I'm not angry when nobody wants to adopt a dog, I'm angry because somebody treated them so poorly in the first place. Owning a dog isn't a human need, so getting one just to treat it like trash -- and have it wind up in a shelter -- is disgusting. Not to mention rescues can come with a lot of problems, physiologically and psychologically. I can understand why people might shy away.

discreditable 8y ago
As a rescue dog owner this article made me wonder how different he could be if I had the chance to raise him with love instead of neglect. Then I realized a clone would look the same but it could be an entirely different dog otherwise.
- r_smart 8y ago
  Yeah, I got wondering the same things. One of our dogs is getting older, and we love her so much. I wouldn't, and couldn't afford to, do something like this, but I can understand why people might. How different would she end up? There are a lot of mannerisms that seem pretty common to beagles, and then there's some of the weird stuff she does that is unique to her. Would we lose all that? Would it feel weird having a dog that looked just like her but acted different?

doctorRetro 8y ago

Agreed, agreed, agreed. Given that cloning an animal doesn't recreate the personality - same goes for Humans, of course - if you miss your beloved Rex, there's zero guarantee you'll get another Rex if you clone him, which sort of defeats the purpose. And the number of shelter dogs is heart breaking. Give one of them a good home.