Bizkit
Bizkit was a Toy Australian Shepherd that we bought in 2012. I flew down to pick her up from Atlanta airport, where her breeder met me. She was about 10 weeks old, a little black and white fluffball. The whole airplane fell in love with her. As she grew, we got to know an incredibly intuitive and intelligent little puppy who became my shadow. Over the years, I developed a deep emotional bond with her – if I was upset or anxious, she would sense it and come from across the room or even the house, and lick my face, or just lie on my chest, trying to make me feel better. When I went through a week of misery getting off pain medication, she was with me every minute. Bizkit was a uniquely beautiful dog – a noble profile and symmetrical features and markings. My wife had a similar relationship with her, but Bizkit slept on my feet or even on my chest every night. She wasnt always the easiest – a true shepherd, she was always alarmed at strange people and dogs, and let them know.
An avid TV watcher, she made clear to every dog or horse on the screen that this was HER house! It got so she would know to leave the room as soon as we said “ENOUGH!” to her barking. Bizkit had a pretty extensive vocabulary and was good about following commands even if we weren’t the most diligent trainers. Our second Toy Aussie, Peeps always looked up to Biz, and they had a great time together. When Biz developed insulinoma at the end of 2022, I started looking into cloning. After an operation and chemo, she managed to get another 16 good months, until the cancer metastasized and returned as a brain tumor and we had to put her to rest very suddenly. Her loss has really taken a toll on sweet little Peeps, and devastated me. I cannot imagine life without Bizkit, and I preserved her genetic material so I can, at some point when my wife agrees, clone her and share our lives with whatever part of her transmutes to a genetic twin. Of course all mammals are different as determined by environment and experience, but I have no doubt if we give her back even a fraction of all the love and affection Bizkit gave us, we might be lucky enough to know another little doggie as special as she was. It gives me some comfort to know that I have the option of bringing back a part of Bizkit, since she had to be spayed by contract I could never breed her. There will be no such restriction on a clone, so we may yet not just have a link to her, but could possibly even have Bizkit’s genetically-linked puppies some day! How splendid is the service Viagen offers that this is a very real option!!