Volkswagen teaches dogs to Drive Cars

Yes! You just read the heading of this article correctly. So far we have thought that the only thing that can drive a car is a human being, or an automated system, but now you will be in for a shock as it turns out dogs can also drive motor vehicles. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) has partnered with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles to teach rescue dogs to drive. the name of the program is called the 'paw-wheel-drive', and it is has really got our attention.

Over the past two months, three mixed-breed dogs, Tulip, Jacob and Harry, have been taught to drive a Volkswagen Amarok by the animal welfare charity.  Amazingly the dogs, which were trained at the Southridge RSPCA centre in Hertfordshire, have learned to control the brakes, gears and even the steering wheel. If you don't believe us, you can check out VW's global website for yourselves.

The dogs, who sit upright on their haunches, were initially taught to steer using a wooden trolley pulled along with string. Mock car controls were then introduced before the dogs were trained to wear specially adapted safety harnesses and put behind the wheel of a 175bhp 4WD Volkswagen Amarok. Apparently, they sit with an instructor and they can actually drive the vehicle, which is fascinating as much as it is frightening.

Anna White, manager at the Southridge RSPCA centre, said, “We wanted to demonstrate how intelligent rescue animals can be. All we have essentially done here is to train the dogs to execute ten sequential behaviours, albeit fairly complicated behaviours! The past few months have been a lot of fun, but there is a serious reason behind the training."

Well, it all sounds incredible, but unfortunately we learned that this was actually an April Fools Day prank that the German auto giant pulled on everybody. In fact, we are actually quite sad that this is not true, because after all, who wouldn't want a dog that could drive.