He says pet cloning could have practical purposes, such as reproducing the companion animals that help elderly people live longer. Of course, there are other purposes for a dog. Jim Densmore, a data analyst from Sterling, hunts hares - and found, in a Bernese hound named Bess, the best hunter he's ever had. So when the dog, a rare breed, started getting old, he called PerPETuate. Breeding is unreliable, Densmore reasons.
Gene pools are small and prone to trouble.
And Bess is perfect already. Farino thought about gene pools, too, when she thought about cloning Pooh-Bear. Shar-peis suffer from genetic diseases and breeding difficulties. Many of the puppies she's tried to breed have died. The new dogs, she figures, couldn't be too different.