After sharing the video of his dog seemingly directing his car in downtown Jerusalem on social media, a man is now being charged with reckless driving. Continue reading to learn what transpired next, how social media responded, and where in the world driving lessons for dogs have been conducted.
Israel’s Central Traffic Unit became interested when the video went popular on Israeli WhatsApp groups on Monday.
Jerusalem Police reportedly questioned the individual, according to Ynetnews. According to police, the 35-year-old Ein Naqquba man “endangered other road users with his wrongful actions, but was also driving a car without a valid vehicle inspection test.”
The man is anticipated to be charged with careless driving. “The suspect behaved recklessly and improperly when he let his dog hold onto the steering wheel, thereby endangering road users,”
according to the police. He continued, saying, “He then went on to share footage of the dangerous act which reached the police. Whoever does such things is playing with human lives. We will continue to work to enforce and prosecute serious traffic violations.”
The incident was the subject of some amusement on Reddit.
One of them exclaimed, “Oh no! He’s going to get a barking ticket!”
https://youtu.be/n-Ny94Ummds
“To be fair if I knew my dog could drive a car I couldn’t resist either,” said another. “Recording it and uploading to social media, not so much.”
As it turns out, three canines were genuinely taught to operate a car in New Zealand in 2012. The dogs received three months of rigorous training where they learned how to use the steering wheel and sit behind the wheel. The dogs advanced from go-carts to genuine automobiles over several weeks, eventually gaining the ability to accelerate and brake. It was the product of an animal welfare organization that wanted to promote the adoption of rescue dogs by demonstrating their intelligence.
“Driving a car actively demonstrates to potential rescue dog adopters that you can teach an old dog new tricks,” SPCA Auckland CEO Christine Kalin told the New Zealand Herald. “The dogs have achieved amazing things in eight short weeks of training, which shows with the right environment just how much potential all dogs from the SPCA have as family pets.”
“Monty, Porter, and Ginny are great dogs each with their distinct personality,” said their trainer. “You wouldn’t believe any dog could learn to drive a car on its own and the way all three SPCA rescue dogs have taken to training does prove that intelligent creatures adapt to the situation they’re in. It is remarkable.”