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.

“The adaptation was straightforward to suit the reach of the dogs’ front legs,” Dave Giles, design engineer at Ikon, told the Star.

“The controls for the accelerator and brake pedals were raised up beside the steering wheel and we had to install a T-bar onto the auto gear shifter so the dog’s paw could change from neutral into drive.”

The final touches were a custom seat-belt harness and an accelerator limitation.

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.

“The challenge was finding a relevant way of using MINI. So, half jokingly at the time, we said to ourselves, ‘Let’s teach a dog drive.’”

Initially, Vette admitted, he thought they’d take the movie magic route where editing makes animals appear to do things they might not entirely be doing. Once they got rolling, they decided to make it real.

Vette and his trainers have used clicker training — a click for the movement, food as a reward — to ingrain the steps in the dogs: turn the key on, paws on the wheel, brake on, car into gear, brake off (it’s standard transmission), accelerate, brake when they hear “stop.”

“Then we’re going to push our luck a bit and do a 180-degree turn around the corner,” which is not, Vette said, a natural movement for a dog.

There has been no objection from animal rights groups, said Vette, whose company also rescues and trains strays.

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“They see the welfare message and they can come and have a look at our training methods. I advise and consult other animal welfare groups and I teach animal welfare, too, so they’re unlikely to have a crack at us.”

Driver training for Ginny, Monty and Porter goes right through the week and weekend, Vette said. The hope is that they will be adopted after a few public appearances.

“The real message is that these dogs are smart. We want to get more of the dogs adopted out. This is a sad time for rescue organizations because people dump their dogs before Christmas.