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Miracle Milly's Doggone Dog Cloning Lawsuit

By George Khoury, Esq. on March 12, 2019 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

For dog owners, it's no contest; there is no dog cuter or more special than their own pup. Exhibit A: My dog's Instagram account.

However, when it comes to Miracle Milly, the Guinness Book of World Records holder for smallest dog in the world, her owner has filed a lawsuit alleging that her pup is so special, that a dog cloning lab violated the contract that allowed them to clone Milly 10 times. That lab cloned her 49 times and gave away clones to other labs, and no, this isn't a Rick and Morty episode.

Hair-Splicing of the Dog

Miracle Milly's story is an odd one. After being declared by the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest adult dog ever, Milly's owner was contacted by a cloning lab. The lab offered to clone Milly 10 times, and let her owner pick out one of the 10 to keep for herself, while the other nine would be studied for scientific research.

With how popular tea-cup and miniature pups have become, there is big money in researching tiny dog genes. And the smallest dog in the world has the genes that scientists in this unique field are curious to study.

Notably, Milly's owner was aware of the value of her dog's genes and the contract not only limited the number of times she could be cloned, but also demanded that she own part of any subsequent research. As part of the lawsuit, Milly's owner alleges that the special value that Milly has, has been diminished due to the number of clones.

Yes, Dog Cloning Is a Thing

In case you were as amazed as we were when we first learned of this case ... Yes, dog cloning is apparently a real thing people can do (whether they should is a different story). The cost is astronomical, and as the labs that offer the service explain, the resulting cloned dogs may look like and share some attributes of the original, but are their own dogs.

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