Holy pooch! We’ve found the Instagram dog photo to trump all other dog photos — and it comes to us courtesy of the best possible source: Barbra Streisand herself.
The legendary singer posted a picture on Instagram of her three Coton de Tulear dogs, posing atop the grave of her O.G. pup, Samantha, who passed away in the fall of 2017 at the ripe old age of 14 (human years, that is).
We love everything about this picture, from how Scarlet, Fanny, and Violet — Babs’ three living dogs — are expertly perched on the grave and even looking at the camera, to Scarlet’s little hind leg that’s peeking to the left, and the way that the three dogs seem to be holding hands (well, rather, paws).
But arguably the best part of this picture is Sammie’s face on the grave, which is so realistic it almost looks like she’s chilling with her dog relations. (I would like to pause here and say that, Samantha has possibly the most beautiful grave I’ve ever seen — for a human or a pet! Look at those beautiful flowers!)
Streisand captioned the heart-melting picture with “The twins Scarlet and Violet honoring their mom (with cousin Fanny in the center!) 🐾”
You see, Fanny was adopted from the same breeder as Samantha. And Samantha isn’t technically Scarlet and Violet’s mother — the two dogs were cloned from cells extracted from Sammie’s stomach and mouth. Yes, that’s right, in case you missed it, Babs cloned her dogs! (I mean, is there a more Barbra Streisand thing to do?!)
Based on the picture above we can definitively say there’s an uncanny similarity between the “mom” and her “daughters.”
The iconic singer-actress — who was attacked by PETA for her decision to clone the pups — justified the decision in a New York Times Op-Ed (again, so Babs!), writing that she cloned the dogs because she couldn’t find a curly-haired Coton de Tulear like Samantha. (Of course a Jewish diva needs a pup with frizzy hair!). And while she acknowledges the pups both have their own unique personalities, she writes that “every time I look at their faces, I think of my Samantha… and smile.”
Notably, this type of cloning is likely frowned upon according to Jewish ethicists, many of whom support cloning for medical research but not for the sake of reproduction, as in this case. However, most of the debates regard the cloning of humans — not dogs! — and with this technology being so new, there’s no final word yet.
But if you’re thinking about cloning your pet, one thing is for certain: You will need a lot of cash.
