WATCH: Dogs Learn to Drive in New Zealand

How long did it take you to pass your driving test? These dogs may have you beat — they learned how to drive a car in just eight weeks. The canine chauffeurs have been trained by a New Zealand charity in a bid to show just how intelligent rescue animals can be.

After careful training, three dogs from the Auckland SPCA — Monty, Ginny and Porter — have learned to work the gear shift, accelerator, brake and steering wheel. Working with specialized trainers, they rehearsed in a “practice vehicle” made of wood, responding to spoken commands such as ‘A’ for ‘accelerate.’ Then they moved on to a real car: the Mini Countryman. There are a few adjustments made for these doggie drivers — as the BBC video above shows, they are fitted with special pup-friendly seatbelts, and the controls are tweaked to accommodate furry paws. But otherwise, these hounds really are taking the wheel.

The Doggie Driving School was designed to change the public’s impression of rescue dogs and to encourage greater adoptions. “I think sometimes people think because they’re getting an animal that’s been abandoned that somehow it’s a second-class animal,” SPCA Auckland’s CEO Christine Kalin told the New Zealand Herald. “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.”



Read more and watch video: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/12/06/watch-dogs-learn-to-drive-in-new-zealand/#ixzz2EMyjCW3P