Amazingly, if the early reports are to be believed, the three pooches took just two months to master the basics of the road in purpose made simulators (wooden carts).
Since then the three mutts have graduated to a modified Mini Cooper, where they actually sit in the drivers seat on their hind legs and use their front paws to steer.
Their little feet go to extension levers which are attached to the accelerator and breaks so they can control the perambulation of the vehicle, while they can also control the gear stick with their other paw.
This insane experiment was set up by animal welfare groups in a bid to show just how intelligent the average mongrel mutt actually is.
Mark Vette, who is schooling the dogs, said: ‘”We train them 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”.
The three dogs: Porter, a ten-month old beardie cross, Monty, an 18-month-old schnauzer cross, and Ginny, a one-year-old beardie whippet cross will be put to the test live on NZ television next Monday.
All the dogs driving have been saved by the SPCA (The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) and they are hoping that people will be so impressed by the car driving dogs that they will adopt 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.
“This really shows with the right environment just how much potential all dogs from the SPCA have as family pets.”
Sooner or later it seems that dogs might be popping us human’s in the back of the car and driving us down to the park for a quick walk. Or leaving the window open a crack for us while they pop into the shops to run some errands.
What a time to be alive.