Everyday lost and abandoned dogs are left in shelters, never being adopted and many of which end up put to sleep.   The Auckland, New Zealand SPCA decided to do something about it.  They wanted to raise public awareness for the 50 – 100 dogs it has in its shelter every week.  Anyone with an obedient dog knows how intelligent they are and how able they are to be trained.

So the NZ SPCA teamed up with the automaker MINI to make a commercial that will change the way people view the abilities of canines.  MINI’s NZ brand manager, Simonne Mearns, asked his ad agency DraftFCB to work with the SPCA on the campaign.  DraftFCB had big ideas and came up with something that no one would have expected to be possible.

Three dogs — Porter, Ginny and Monty — worked with four different trainers for over two months to become the world’s first driving dogs.  The MINI Countryman vehicle was specially modified with accelerator and brake pedals moved so the dogs could reach them, and an easy activate ignition switch.  They also made “paw friendly” controls and handles for the steering wheel.

Porter excelled and was featured in the Youtube video “Meet Porter.  The World’s First Driving Dog”.  The video shows Porter sitting in the seat, starting the vehicle, pulling off and even negotiating a corner.  It has received over 6 million views on Youtube.

While I don’t think we will see personal canine chauffeurs anytime soon, it did its job to raise awareness of how smart these dogs actually are.  I’d like to note though, Porter did not use the proper 10 and 2 hand position on the steering wheel.  Maybe a bit of remedial training is needed.

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It’s like a docking station, except it’s shaped like a little robot dog and your iPhone serves as its face. You’ll need the SmartPet app, of course, but that will allow your little plastic companion to wag its tail, walk around, sit up and more. And yes, there’s voice recognition in there for commands, as well as gestures and touchscreen interfaces. The iPhone “face” has several expressions too.

Considering that the SmartPet is coming by way of Bandai, it’s not surprising that some of its Tamagotchi digital pet heritage is spilling over too. You can add accessories, check the health of your digital pooch, feed virtual medicine through the touchscreen, and more. Unlike real dogs, the SmartPet can be used to play music too. Look for SmartPet to hit Japanese retailers later this month for 7,800 JPY (about US$100).

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So, you’re at the park with your pooch and you want to let Fido off his leash for some frisbee action. At the same time, you want to be able to do the leash thing on a moment’s notice. The Supercollar could be just the ticket in this instance.

At first glance, it just looks like a somewhat rugged collar for a dog. However, the polypropylene collar actually houses a retractable leash. Toward the back portion, you’ll find that you can unlock the handle and pull out the coated steel cables, effectively giving you a three-foot leash on two lines. They’re thin, but each of these cables is said to have a breaking strength of over 100 pounds.

If Fido is a powerful Rottie rather than a little Pom, you might have some concerns about him pulling a little too hard. Otherwise, the combined 200+ pounds of strength should suffice. It also helps that the retractors have “dirt and debris flushing technology” to go along with being waterproof. You wouldn’t want gunk getting in there and messing with the lines.

Under many instances, you’ll want a leash that’s longer than three feet, but this could be pretty useful when in off-leash parks or when traveling and you don’t want to worry about both collar and leash. Find it for $49.95 at Supercollar.com. You can even watch someone pulling a car with it two minutes into the company’s promotional video.

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