Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Fetch Fido! And Bring the Car Around While You're At It

I have long said that a typing monkey could replace me. Well now it turns out that a driving dog could do. The Huffington Post reports that a New Zealand dog trainer has taught dogs to drive. Probably better than some people I know too.

The lessons are part of a campaign by the New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), meant to clear up "common misconceptions" about rescue dogs. The trainer figures that if he can show people he can teach dogs to drive, maybe people will realize they're really cool and adopt the older dogs, and some with maybe tiny behavioral issues, that many people don't want.

So far, the animals have driven only with some human guidance, in the form of verbal commands and the occasional steering wheel readjustment, but I suspect they'll be making trips to the Walmart for Kibbles and Bits on their own any day now.


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About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.