"The first obstacle to cloning your dog is that $100,000 cost. The second is getting the right kind of cells. It's easier if your dog is still alive, in which case you just take it to the vet to get a biopsy sample, an 8-millimeter piece of skin from the abdomen, or about half the width of a penny. Then you pack those samples into an ice-pack-filled plastic-foam box and mail the box to Sooam. You can clone a dog that has been dead for fewer than five days, too, as long as you wrap its body in wet towels and place it in a refrigerator, which keeps it from drying out before getting to the vet. If the dog is dead, Sooam asks that you send as many skin samples as possible so that the lab has a better chance of finding living cells."