December 29, 2015
A British couple is celebrating the birth of two new puppies who were born using DNA from their beloved pet dog who died earlier this year, The Guardian reports.
Laura Jacques and Richard Remde of Yorkshire, England, paid nearly $100,000 to clone their boxer, Dylan, at the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea.
Dylan died of a brain tumor in June.
Hi, I'm Dylan Dog. I'm in Doggie Heaven now just waiting for my little clone babies to be born. ♥ Merry Christmas ♥ pic.twitter.com/001KLFlVkT
— Dylan Dog (@WeLovedDylan) December 25, 2015
The couple sent DNA from Dylan to the firm two weeks after his death, marking the longest period of time after an animal's death when DNA was successfully recovered for cloning, according to CBS News.
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The first puppy, who was born on Boxing Day (Dec. 26), was named Chance, after a character in Jacques’ favorite movie, Disney’s "Homeward Bound." The second puppy, named Shadow after another character in the movie, was born early Monday.
Meet @WeLovedDylan 's #cloned newborn #puppy #boxer on #BoxingDay!! Sooam Biotech. pic.twitter.com/ZVTQAEmCoR
— Joohee Cho (@jooheecho) December 26, 2015
And they called it #PuppyLove https://t.co/C7CemnTiEo
— Dylan Dog (@WeLovedDylan) December 26, 2015
"After they got him out I still couldn’t quite believe it had happened," Jacques told The Guardian. "But once he started making noises I knew it was real. Even as a puppy of just a few minutes old I can’t believe how much he looks like Dylan. All the colourings and patterns on his body are in exactly the same places as Dylan had them."
Remde and Jacques created a Twitter account called @WeLovedDylan to document the puppies’ progress. Each puppy also has its own account: @ShadowIsMyTwin and @ChanceIsMyTwin.
Read more from The Guardian here.
