She Lost Her Soul Dog—Then Spent $50,000 Hoping to Bring a Piece of Him Back
When Venessa Johnson first heard that a family in California needed to rehome their 6-year-old Shih Tzu more than a decade ago, she didn’t hesitate. She opened her heart and her home to Oliver. He became her constant companion until his death from cancer in December 2024, a loss she describes as utterly devastating.
Grief pushed Johnson into a choice she now calls “not proud of”: spending $50,000 to clone her deceased dog. This November, she brought home the tiny puppy created from Oliver’s DNA to fill the void left by her beloved furry friend. (Watch Video Below)
@venessamj The puppy comes home in 2 days! I decided to clone Oliver one month after he passed through Viagen pets. I was grieving deeply and this felt like a lifeline. I highly encourage people to foster and adopt and I plan to again in the future. #fyp #cloneddog #petgrief #puppy ♬ original sound – Venessa Johnson
Why Venessa Now Questions Her Decision to Clone Oliver
While searching online for ways to cope with losing Oliver to cancer, she stumbled into the world of pet cloning, as per People. This was something she had never considered until grief pushed her toward anything that felt like hope. As a result, she contacted the cloning company Viagen. The process involved a vet collecting Oliver’s skin cells, which were then multiplied in a lab.
Scientists removed the DNA from a donor egg, inserted Oliver’s DNA, and placed the embryo into a surrogate dog. After two failed attempts, the third transfer succeeded, resulting in three cloned puppies. Venessa brought one home, spending around $50,000 for the chance to recreate part of the bond she had lost.
With time, however, she sees her choice more clearly. She admits the cost was extreme and recognizes that the clone is not Oliver, just a genetic copy. Looking back, Venessa believes grief clouded her judgment, and she now wishes she had waited, healed, and adopted a senior dog in need instead.
“I know it’s not Oliver coming back to me. It’s a piece of him, but it’s not him,” she says. “Had I waited and grieved properly, I absolutely would not have made this decision.”
Dog Cloning: What is It?
Most people have heard of cloning only in the context of science experiments, but the idea entered the mainstream in 2017 when Barbra Streisand revealed she had her beloved dog, Samantha, cloned after losing her.
Instead of saying goodbye forever, she chose a path that allowed a part of Samantha to live on through two new puppies. Cloning doesn’t recreate the same animal, but it does create a genetic copy, much like identical twins who share the same DNA but grow into their own distinct personalities.
Since then, other celebrities, including Tom Brady and Paris Hilton, have embraced the trend of cloning their dogs.
How does it work?
Cloning a dog isn’t as simple as creating a single genetic copy. According to National Geographic, it actually requires the help of several other dogs along the way. To begin, scientists need a small tissue sample from the original pet. They then collect multiple egg cells from donor dogs and carefully remove each egg’s nucleus, the part that contains its DNA. Into this empty space, they insert the genetic material from the dog being cloned.
Once the new cell is created, it’s given a tiny burst of electricity to encourage it to start dividing, almost like jump-starting life. That developing embryo is then placed into a surrogate mother who will carry the pregnancy.
About 60 days later, the cloned puppies are born, sometimes through surgery if complications arise. It’s a complex process involving multiple animals, advanced technology, and careful coordination, all to bring a genetically identical puppy into the world.
