[新聞] 狗狗學開車

A dog that can drive? It must be a Rover: The stray canines that have been taught to get behind the wheel

The three stray dogs are being trained in specially modified carts to operate the car's controls
They will attempt to drive a real Mini next week, with their efforts being broadcast live online

In a world already full of road hogs this is perhaps the last thing you want to see in the rear view mirror.
Animal experts are teaching dogs how to drive.
Astonishingly, it took three mutts just eight weeks to master the basics in wooden carts.

Porter, a 10 month old beardie cross, is one of three dogs being trained to drive a specially converted Mini in a stunt for the New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Monty, an 18 month old Giant Schnauzer cross in one of the specially built training cars built to get the dogs used to the controls of the specially modified mini.

Ginnie, a one year old Beardie Whippet Cross is the third driver in the group

HOW THEY DRIVE
The three dogs will drive a modified Mini in which they sit on their haunches in the driver’s seat with their paws on the steering wheel.

Theirfeet go on extension levers which had been attached to the accelerator and the brake whilst their paw will rest on the gearstick.

They then graduated to a modified Mini in which they sat on their haunches in the driver's seat with theirpaws on the steering wheel. Their feet go on extension levers which areattached to the accelerator and the brake while their paw rests on the gearstick.

An animal welfare group in New Zealand trained the dogs to get behind the wheel in an attempt to show the public how intelligent they are.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will put them to the test in a live broadcast next Monday.

The dogs have been trained in specially made wooden carts which they have been driving around inside an indoor test lab.

Mark Vette, the animal trainer who is schooling the dogs, said in a preview of the show that they treated the training like a ‘film shoot’, in reference to his work in the movies.

He said: ‘We train the dogs to do different actions, touch is the first thing and then we teach them to touch the different objects with the right paw and left paw.

‘They’ve all come through at this point and they’re all going really well’.

Thedogs that were chosen were Porter, a 10-month old Beardie Cross, Monty,an 18-month-old Schnauzer Cross, and Ginny, a one-year-old Beardie Whippet Cross.

The dogs have already tested out the modified mini, and will attempt to drive it live online to raise awareness of the charity trying to rehome them

The dog's paw will rest on the gearstick which has been moved to allow them to access it easily

All of them had been rescued by the SPCA.

The organisation hopes that the public will be so impressed with the animals that they will adopt them and others like them.

SPCA Auckland Chief executive Christine Kalin said: ‘I think sometimes people think because they're getting an animal that's been abandoned that somehow it's a second-class animal.

‘The dogs have achieved amazing things in eight short weeks of training, which really shows with the right environment just how much potential all dogs from the SPCA have as family pets.’