Never another one like Buster
I couldn’t put my gloves down for a minute or he’d gleefully “be bad” and run off with them, waiting just far enough away I couldn’t quite reach him.
Buster was the one who would walk up to my chair here and contentedly rest his head on my leg. He never made peace with the leash, lashing and flailing like a Marlin on a deep-sea run.
I was thinking about our good friend Buster, who six years ago this month (when this picture was taken) was up to his usual tricks. Six months later at 4 and a half years, he died.
Would I want another dog exactly like Buster? And would that even be possible with regard to how he behaved and not just how he looked?
Cloned dogs are a reality. But according to this piece, only a certain portion of their behavior is by genetic “nature” as opposed to pre-natal environment and then nurture after birth.
“The only problem with dogs is that they have such a short life. Cloning means you could have the opportunity to have the same dog with you for your entire life.”
Would you want One Dog to Rule Them All from kindergarten to elder day care, or is the variety of companions part of the joy of knowing another species as well as we know our individual dogs in this short life we both share?
If you had a choice, which dog would you clone and why? What traits from your favorite would you wish for all dogs? Which traits you recall with horror would you hope to abolish for all times from Puppyhood at large?
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Cloned dogs would not be any more alike in behavior than twins. Dog breeds are very close to cloning already, having a rather small gene pool. The brain, which controls a lot of behavior in dogs and humans, does not develop under genetic controls; but is different even in twins or clones.
I don’t think I would ever want to clone a dog. I think the fact that their time with us is limited is what makes it so precious. And I do enjoy the “box of chocolates” variety of dogs out there – I have learned something from every dog I have shared my life with, which has made me a better trainer, a better teacher, and a better dog owner. But if I did clone one of my dogs, I think I would choose my very first dog – I would love to see how that dog would turn out if he didn’t have to suffer through all the mistakes I made with him, and if he got the benefit of everything I have learned about behavior and training in the years since he was trained.
My oldest dog right now is my heart dog, but I couldn’t bear to clone him, knowing that his clone would suffer the same debilitating hereditary problems with spondylosis and possibly degenerative myelopathy. I don’t think I could do it a second time. Instead, we will just try to make the most of whatever time we might have.
Even if they were able to be identical in behavior and temperament, I don’t think I could clone one. I’d miss out on all the goofy stuff the other ones have done. Each of my dogs has been deeply annoying and wonderfully sweet and funny, each in her own way, and I’d miss out on the others if I only kept the one.
Though I did hear about a couple who had “Cricket the Perpetual Dog” which was just a dog of the same type and coloring to the first Cricket, and who was taught the same tricks. The couple didn’t want to upset the grandkids, so Cricket lived on.
Jay – my current main dog – is the dog I always wished for as a boy when I cut my cake.
I wonder if he may be my last dog too – as I think that having another in my 70′s may be too much.
As I write this I feel such a loss.
It would be Maggie, our current dog. I understand Robt. Paterson’s dilemma and sense of loss. We are on the fence about getting another dog while Maggie is only nine. However, my husband’s 71st birthday gives us pause (no pun intended) about another dog (maybe especially since Maggie is the “best” in a long line of “best” labs we have loved). The thought of a “last” dog is very sobering.
I dont think I could clone one of my dogs any more than I could clone one of my children. It would not be possible for either of the two dogs I have now to be the “same” if they were cloned. A clone would not spend its formative puppyhood in a house full of teenage boys at the beach. No, clones would be totally different and because of that I will enjoy the company these dogs for the short times they are here realizing that someday they will be physically gone but like the dogs that came before them, always with me spirit.