Meet Porter: The World's First Driving Dog
in December 2012, The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) teamed up with Mini Cooper in New Zealand to teach three dogs how to drive.
The Auckland SPCA hopes to dispel idea that abandoned pets are second-rate with the social campaign.
The chosen pooches — Porter, Monty and Ginny — learned how to drive in rigs with paw-activated accelerators and brakes. Trainers chose the trio based on size, look and attitude from dozens of dogs at the shelter. After a few weeks of training with head driving coach Mark Vette and his team of experts, the pups learned to sit facing forward with their paws on the steering wheels.
A video of one of the dogs (Porter) driving around a track reached viral status on YouTube. The video currently sits at 9.3 million hits since it first made its debut in January 2013.
As you can see in the video, Porter, the world's first driving dog, is using a paw-activated accelerator and brake to pilot the vehicle. Porter drives pretty well at the wheel, even though he drives at a snail's pace under micromanaging from his trainer.
"Obviously, we think dogs are pretty smart and amazing. And we reckon, if more people thought the same, more of our dogs would find happy homes," the official SPCA Facebook page states. The interactive marketing campaign thrives on the Driving Dogs Facebook page where FB visitors can learn about adopting a smart dog and the Mini Cooper.