Dogs Learn to Drive
Dogs are said to be faithful animals. They are so attached to humans that they are called his best friend. Many people love to have dogs as their pets. Now, for all the dog loversone more reason to love them is that they are soon going to help you drive your car.
Wondering how? The drive for publicity by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals saw the four-legged friends spend weeks getting to grips with four wheels in New Zealand. The dogs, a giant schnauzer, a whippet cross and a beardie cross are the breeds that were involved for the study. They could change gear, steer and brake. They sit in a driving position on their haunches responding to instructions called out from the dog behavior experts.
Animal trainer Mark Vette and his team began training the animals using a mock vehicle before introducing them to a real car - a Mini especially adapted for paws. He said: "We chain behaviors together... in this case we've got 10 behaviors we're putting together. Then you put them into a sequence. It's a lot to do, and for the dog to actually start to get an idea of what actually is happening takes quite a long time".
The trainer felt though the dogs did well in the controlled environment, they had difficulty in adapting to the real cars in the real scenario. Still with practice they have performed well and now the animals can start a car, accelerate and steer. They are scheduled to show off their skills on live TV in New Zealand next week. For the final test, the dogs will also have to brake as they are driving along a narrow lane.
So if this turns out successful, soon we will have the training school started all over and help build this new skill to our pets there by making them more attached to humans.
Source: Medindia
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