No longer are puppies being born with certain traits up to fate, the ability for dogs to be cloned is now a reality. In Korea, a set of three dogs born in the same liter look very much alike to each other, but not only that, but they resemble each other in their DNA. These puppies are not the first to be cloned, they are actually second generation clones.

Snuppy, a male Afghan hound was the first ever cloned dog being born over 10 years ago in 2005. Snuppy was the cell donor for these adorable puppies, and now has clones of his own. Snuppy’s stem cells were harvested from him in 2010, and with the puppies only just turning one this year, it means it took over 6 years just to be able to clone these adorable puppies.

Six years may sound like a long time just for these puppies to be born, but it is an amazing accomplishment to be able to clone these mammals. Cloning has been around since the early 1950’s, but scientists were only able to clone tadpoles and small organisms. There were able to do this type of cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer. But it wasn’t until forty years later in 1996 when scientists were able to clone a mammal for the first time, with Dolly the Sheep. The most impressive thing about cloning dogs is because of how hard it is to get their ovulated eggs. Since female dogs only are able to become fertilized once a year.

The dogs who have been cloned have not had any harmful health effects. Snuppy, was able to live a healthy, and long life, well within the expected lifespan for his breed. While Dolly the Sheep was only able to live to 6 years old when her expected life span was 11 to 12 years. Hopefully these three adorable puppies will be able to live a life just like their cell parent.