Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Billionaires Diller & von Furstenberg Clone Their Dog


From Page Six we learn:
Media billionaire Barry Diller has cloned his beloved Jack Russell terrier, Shannon, into two new pups.

Sources say Diller, the chairman of IAC, became so attached to Shannon that he got the pampered pooch’s DNA cloned by a specialist company, which created a pair of puppies who are almost exact replicas.

Shannon was no ordinary terrier: One year, she disturbed his annual pre-Oscars picnic with his designer wife Diane von Furstenberg by finding her way onto the Spanish-tile roof of the couple’s hacienda. Shannon proceeded to run back and forth perilously close to the edge, in view of worried guests including Shirley MacLaine, Joan Collins and Diana Ross, forcing Diller to head up to the roof deck to lure her down.

The Post also reported that Shannon slept in a grand, custom-made, neoclassical doghouse when she was not making the scene at LA Oscar parties.

Cloning dogs costs up to $100,000, and is done by a Korean firm that implants DNA into a dog egg. A rep for Diller confirmed the cloning but didn’t comment further.

2 comments:

seeker said...

Since a dog is so much nurture as well as nature I cringe when I see things like this. I guarantee that those pups will NOT be their old dog. Every day we see thousands of dogs euthanized. At least hundreds of them are Jack Russells. We had one almost identical looking in rescue last year. If they loved their Jack Russell dog so much, they should adopt one or buy from a reputable breeder if they have to have Papers, then spend the other 9/10s of that helping to save the poor little ones turned into kill shelters Every Fricking Day just becauise they are the Jumpy, Barky, Digging Dogs they are.
Sorry, I'll be quiet now.

Debi and the Jack/Rat Pack.

lucypup2009@gmail.com said...

Interesting. They've been cloning dogs for quite awhile, but where the real cloning action is...you've guessed it, horses. Polo ponies to be exact, likely the most cloned domestic animal thus far:

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/07/polo-horse-cloning-adolfo-cambiaso

It's possible that soon most of the top competitors will be cloned horses. So far in dogs, it's mostly undertaken for personal dog fancy ( single, beloved pets), not yet in competition because outside of racing greys there's not enough money to be made in dogs.