South Korea has begun training seven puppies cloned from a Canadian labrador retriever named Chase, reckoned by the country's customs officials to be their best sniffer dog, the BBC reports.

The mutts were produced by an unnamed biotech outfit at a cost of about 300m won (£150,000, $300,000) using the somatic nuclear cell transfer method in three surrogate mothers. The plan is to increase the number of sniffer dogs' offspring to "make the grade" from 30 per cent for natural reproduction to 90 per cent.

The Koreans seem to have got their seven clones at a knock-down price. As we reported back in February, a California woman was prepared to pay RNL Bio a cool $300,000 for a single copy of her deceased pitbull terrier called Booger.

The company's marketing director, Cho Seong-ryul, suggested that, as demand for replicant canines grows, the price may eventually come down to a mere $50,000 a pop. ®

Related stories

• 9/11 hero mutt cloned (18 June 2009)
• Cops collar Russian punting dog dressed as lamb (12 May 2009)
• Yes! It's Joyce McKinney, admits Joyce McKinney (11 August 2008)
• US woman celebrates cloning of 'precious Booger' (5 August 2008)
• South Korean prez turns on the internet (5 August 2008)
• Dog off the menu at Olympic restaurants (11 July 2008)
• US boffins puff off 'living nose on a chip' tech (7 May 2008)
• US woman orders $150k cloned pitbull terrier (15 February 2008)
• Koreans did actually clone dog, panel declares (10 January 2006)
• South Koreans clone dog (4 August 2005)
• Cloned kitten sold for $50,000 (24 December 2004)