Mother of four spends $50K to clone beloved toy poodle resulting in three identical pups
A mother of four decided to shell out a whopping $50K to clone her toy poodle which has resulted in her getting three identical looking pups. The woman is so happy with the results that she is planning to duplicate her dog's clones in a couple of years.
The 55-year-old Amy Vangemert revealed that she had grown very dependent and reliant on her dog Buhner after her four sons — 30-year-old Robert, 29-year-old Taylor, 26-year-old Dyllan, and 23-year-old Austin — all grew up and moved out of her home.
Amy was so attached to the dog that she could not bear the thought of losing him as he grew older. This prompted her to look out for another dog but she could not help but notice how different they all were when compared to Buhner.
Amy and her husband John resorted to contacting the same Texas company which had cloned Barbara Streisand's pooch in 2017. Around six months later, Amy received three identical puppies — Buhner Junior (BJ), Baxter and Ditto. Amy totally denied that she was a "crazy dog lady" but revealed to DailyMail that she does plan on getting Buhner Junior and Ditto cloned in a few years.
She shared, "It's the best decision I've ever made. They are my joy in life. It was worth every penny. I couldn't be happier. It's the best decision I have ever made. I would clone over and over again. I want these puppies, there's nothing like them."
Amy also explained how she had fallen in love with 13-year-old Buhner the moment she had met him in 2005. "I am super attached to him. I don't think I've had a better friend. I love his loyalty and his sweet, gentle nature," she revealed.
"I started getting emotional after he turned 10. I felt like I could never say goodbye to him. I really didn't think I could live without him. My husband worried about me because I was crying every day. If Buhner whimpered, I would be terrified that he was sick," she added. She looked out for other dogs but could not find one she wanted and said, "I searched for breeders and for any way possible to find a dog that I would be able to love like Buhner."
"But every time I thought: 'Oh no, it's not Buhner. I wished I had never got Buhner fixed when he was a puppy because I didn't have the opportunity to breed him. I wanted a piece of him to live on," she shared. She also revealed that she had first thought of cloning after she saw a small segment on the practice on a news program around five years ago.
"I thought I could never do it but I started doing research. I read about a man who cloned his dog in Korea and that there was someone in the US who were looking into cloning family pets. I talked to my husband and we decided that we didn't want to live without a part of Buhner."
She then contacted ViaGen Pets who have been cloning horses and livestock for 17 years and started to clone dogs and cats around three years ago. Cloning a dog costs $50,000 while a cat costs $25,000.
Amy shared, "I wrote them a check and just decided to do it. They began the process immediately. I took Buhner to have his teeth cleaned and the vet did the biopsy."
In order to clone a pet, two skin samples are taken to collect the DNA. They are then taken to a lab where they are placed in an incubator and the cells start to grow.
"I have had some serious backlash from people. A couple of acquaintances said I was wrong and it was inhumane and there were so many dogs out there that need to be adopted. But that's like telling a mother that she shouldn't have her own child when there are children out there who need parents. I already have a rescue dog. I am not a crazy dog lady, I just wanted a piece of Buhner to live on. I had other family members who were ecstatic and envious and relished every moment of the process with me," Amy revealed.