- Mini Winnie cloned from Winnie in 2014 after Rebecca Bourne won competition
Side by side, these sausage dogs are not just the best of friends – they are three generations of the same family.
But Mini Winnie, ten, her son Wally, five, and granddaughter Whoopie, just five months, would not exist if it was not for modern science.
Mini Winnie was cloned from dachshund Winnie ten years ago after her owner, Rebecca Bourne, won a competition.
And while Winnie produced a litter, the pup Mrs Bourne kept was unable to have offspring. So that left Mini Winnie to continue the family tree.
‘It’s worked out pretty well. It would have been pretty sad if Winnie’s line had run out,’ said Mrs Bourne, 39, from Hundon, Suffolk.
Winnie was given to Mrs Bourne on her 18th birthday and she credits the dog with helping her through spells of bulimia and depression.
As reported in the Daily Mail at the time, her beloved pet was copied in 2014 – although the £60,000 procedure was carried out at a laboratory in South Korea as it is illegal in this country.
Scientists extracted Winnie’s DNA and placed it in a donor egg, which was carried by a dog surrogate. Four months later, Mini Winnie made the 15-hour flight to the UK to meet her double.
‘I know they say you can’t clone personality… but Mini Winnie is just like Winnie,’ said Mrs Bourne, who runs Rebby Rabbits, which makes handmade art for children.
Winnie died in 2017 aged 17 after she was hit by a car. But her dynasty continued as Mini Winnie had a litter of two pups in 2018. Mrs Bourne kept one, Wally, who mated with ‘local girl’ Sassy last year, producing four pups including Whoopie.
Despite looking just like the two Winnies, the younger pups are very much their own dogs. Mrs Bourne said Wally is ‘very bossy’, while Whoopie wants to ‘eat everything’.
… and how play helps your pooch live longer
By Xantha Leatham
Anyone who has ever owned a pet dog knows how hard it can be to watch them grow old.
But researchers have found that what they call social enrichment can bring benefits for ageing dogs’ brains – suggesting it really is a good idea to teach an old dog new tricks.
Scientists used MRI scans to measure changes in the brain structure of 43 middle-aged beagles over three years. The dogs were exercised daily, played with a range of toys and had ‘free play’ with other dogs for 30 minutes per day.
Analysis revealed the volume of the hippocampus – the brain region linked to cognition –increased for all the dogs at an average rate of 1.74 per cent per year. This was in contrast to previous studies of beagles, which showed the volume of this area of the brain usually declines over time.
The researchers, from the University of Kentucky and the University of California, published their findings in The Journal of Neuroscience.
‘It doesn’t hurt to take this as a helpful pet-care tip,’ they wrote. ‘Playing with your dogs may be beneficial to their brain health. We can therefore conclude that adopting a dog, even when it is middle-aged, may improve its longevity and benefit its health in old age.’
They added that cognitive decline is similar in dogs and people. Therefore, older dog owners may also see benefits from playing with their pets.
Dr. Thomas Hughes is a UK-based scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to readers. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
