Dogs on Adoption Drive

Three dogs rescued from a New Zealand animal shelter are being taught to drive to encourage more people to adopt abandoned pets.

Published

7 months ago

Categories

Seriously?, Science

Topics

Seriously?, Oceania

People

Mark Vette

Places

New Zealand

Transcript

It all looks perfectly natural. This is Monty, one of three dogs getting behind the wheel. New Zealand's SPCA is behind a push to find more homes for abandoned pets. They say teaching dogs to drive highlights the animals' intelligence, which they hope will encourage more adoptions. The dogs learned to move a gear lever, sit in a driving position and hold a steering wheel. One skill that's still not up to scratch, though, is braking, says trainer Mark Vette. SOUNDBITE: Mark Vette, animal trainer, saying (English): "We had a couple of days ago the car was going too fast, the trainer nearly got run over, the car, the braking, the dogs but no, we've got it all here now. There's no excuses. We've got to get in there and show that dogs can drive cars." And as long as there're tasty treats along the way, there's no looking back.