I agree that 155,000 usd is a very big sum of money. Seriously, if I had that amount of loose change to throw around and I wanted to do something in memory of my pet, I would start a home for dogs with cancer or something like that.
Still, it's their money. Compared to the people who spent 300,000 usd for a wedding for their dogs, this may seem to be a more useful alternative. As for the longevity of the cloned animal, I can see the shortcomings, so to say. However, in this case, Lancelet Encore, the cloned dog, had already sired a litter of puppies, in the normal way. So the chances of his puppies living a longer life is improved. That's assuming the cancer doesn't crop up too soon.