It was 1997 when John Sperling, his friend Joan Hawthorne and her son, Lou, were talking about a New York Times article they had all read about cloning. During the natural progression of the conversation, John suggested that maybe Joan’s dog, Missy, could be cloned. It was an offhand remark, but it took hold, and before long, Sperling was financing a full scale scientific operation to make it happen.
In Dog, Inc., author John Woestendiek takes the reader behind the scenes during the advent of the pet cloning industry and tells not only Sperling’s story, but the story of his competitors domestically and abroad, and the first pet owners to enlist their services. It’s a must-read for anybody who has ever entertained the thought of cloning their pet.
Woestendiek doesn’t make moral judgements or take sides in the cloning controversy – he merely introduces us to the players, explains their motivations, and reports the obstacles they encountered as well as the final results achieved.
It’s not a pretty story. The author goes beneath the superficial ideal of cloning and exposes the con men, legal battles, animal abuse, scientific fraud, and dissatisfied pet owners. Much of the story is very disturbing; from the financial exploitation of grieving pet owners to the sheer volume of animals involved to achieve the cloning of a single pet. Readers will draw their own conclusions about the ethical implications of cloning as the scientists involved reveal their true motivations: the drive to do something no one else has done, national pride, and greed.
The quest to clone man’s best friend proved to be a daunting task, indeed. Although sheep, cows, pigs deer, and even cats were successfully cloned, cloning dogs involved unique complexities; perhaps mirroring the integral complexity of the human/canine bond.
Woestendiek does an excellent job of putting the complicated scientific process into terms that laymen can easily understand. He also underscores the fact that cloning is reproduction, not resurrection; a point that some pet owners refused to acknowledge.
Many readers will find Dog, Inc. informative and interesting, but there’s no doubt that animal advocates will be troubled by what they learn. This book will spark hours of discussion.
The paperback edition of Dog, Inc. goes on sale January 3, 2012.
- Softcover:310 pages
- Publisher:Avery (First paperback edition 2012)
- ISBN-13:978-1-58333-464-5
JohnWoestendiek is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter. He is a thirty-five-year veteran of newspapers, including: Arizona Daily Star, Lexington Herald-Leader, Charlotte Observer,Philadelphia Inquirer,and the Baltimore Sun. He lives in North Carolina with his shelter dog, Ace, maintains the popular blog, Ohmidog! and the website Travels With Ace.
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