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It was about three weeks into the dogs’ five weeks of training when Mark Vette knew he could teach them to drive a car.
The animal trainer and his team, whose film credits include The Chronicles of Narnia are confident that rescue dogs Monty, Ginger and Porter will be able to pilot a modified Mini Countryman about 100 metres on their own.
Showtime is Monday evening, New Zealand time, on live television.
They’ve been trained as part of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals campaign to prove that stray dogs are, in Vette’s words, “just as smart as the $1,500 dogs pumped out from puppy mills that are badly bred.”
Monty, dumped at the SPCA by his owners, had behavioural problems. Porter was found wandering the streets of Auckland. Ginny had been seized by authorities when she was discovered, emaciated and terrified, locked in a bathroom.
“I certainly did have my worries,” Vette, who is an animal psychologist as well as a trainer, told the Star.
The worries started early. Two of the dogs had to get over car sickness.
“We built a rig which is a mock-up of the car. Once we got them learning all the bits and pieces, 20-odd behaviours, then we had to chain them all together. The dog’s got to retain a lot of behaviours.”
Ginny, a one-year-old Bearded Collie Whippet cross, fell ill and fell behind in the training but “she’s come screaming back into contention,” said Vette.
Monty, an 18-month giant Schnauzer, and Porter, a 10-month Bearded Collie Cross, “have proven they’re pretty bloody good.”
All three will take turns at the wheel of the Mini, modified by Ikon Engineering which specializes in refitting vehicles for disabled drivers.
Mini is a sponsor of the Auckland SPCA. It was the car company’s ad agency Draft FCB that spawned the idea.
“In New Zealand, too many people write off shelter animals as second-rate mutts and mongrels. Our challenge was to change that,” Draft FCB executive creative director Regan Grafton said by email.