{"id":2427,"date":"2012-12-18T07:21:54","date_gmt":"2012-12-17T21:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.privatefleet.com.au\/?p=2427"},"modified":"2020-06-20T01:41:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T15:41:01","slug":"driving-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/home\/driving-dogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving Dogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve seen that clip on You Tube yet about the driving dogs. If you haven\u2019t, you can watch it here.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Now, by the looks of that video (which, as far as I can make out, is genuine and isn\u2019t a clever bit of film editing), someone has indeed managed to train that dog Porter pretty well so he responds to commands to turn the car left and right and so forth. \u00a0But when you stop to think about it, and if you\u2019ve had anything to do with dogs that are amenable to learning tricks (our Staffy isn\u2019t in that category \u2013 he won\u2019t do tricks unless there\u2019s an immediate payoff for him), you might realise that what the dog is doing isn\u2019t all that hard. It\u2019s moving paws here and there so that it steers the car and keeps its foot on the accelerator. Really, apart from the awkward pose \u2013 which doesn\u2019t come naturally to dogs \u2013 the trick isn\u2019t that much harder to do than teaching a dog to fetch the paper or to shake hands. The dog isn\u2019t changing gear or anything like that \u2013 you really do need hands to do that, as well as a foot that\u2019s capable of applying the clutch pedal at the right moment. OK, the car in question could be an automatic.<\/p>\n

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nd there you have the thing that really is amazing in that video clip: the car in question. It appears to be a good old Mini Cooper. Granted, to perform this stunt, you need a small car and a large dog so the dog can see out the window(which is more for looks than to actually let the dog drive \u2013 it\u2019s the trainer who\u2019s actually doing the steering and telling the dog when to turn left and right). But this isn\u2019t the first time that the Mini has appeared in a similar wacky driving stunt.<\/p>\n

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The similar stunt I\u2019m thinking of here is the scene in Mr Bean where he\u2019s running late for his dentist\u2019s appointment and has to get dressed, wash his face and brush his teeth while driving there in his beloved Mini<\/a>. In that sketch, Mr Bean puts a brick on the accelerator and drives hands-free while doing his morning ablutions. It could be clever film editing again, but again, it might not be \u2013 certainly the similar episode where Mr Bean pulls his swimming cossie on over his trousers and then removes his trousers doesn\u2019t seem to have been edited. Is it possible?<\/p>\n

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To pull this sort of stunt off, whether it\u2019s getting a dog to drive or whether it\u2019s trying to change your clothes and brush your teeth while driving, you need to be able to ensure several things:<\/p>\n

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