Three dogs are being taught to drive by campaigners for the New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
The campaign aims to highlight the intelligence of the dogs, encouraging more people to rehome the rescued canines.
The star dogs include Monty, a giant Schnauzer, Porter, an old beardie cross and Ginny, a whippet cross.
Amazingly, the dogs have mastered the basic skills of car control in just two months in specialised wooden carts.
Ginny signals to turn right
A specialised car has even been kitted out with extension levers for the pedals so the petrolhead pooches can drive it. The dogs sit on the seat with one paw on the steering wheel, the other on the gearstick and their feet on the specially-extended pedals.
Porter gets to grips with the wooden training cart
The dogs are learning to drive a new MINI; however, we think a Rover or a Fiat Bark-etta would have been more appropriate. It is unclear whether the MINI is fitted with a dog-alytic converter or, indeed, whether it runs on diesel or pet-rol.
The interior of the specially-adapted MINI
The dogs will be unleashed in the MINI next week on a live television show.
Click on the image below to see a video of the dogs in action:
To find out more about the dogs, visit www.spca.org.nz.
