Animal expert to teach dogs to fly

Mark Vette and his canine companion Reg are filmed. (supplied)
Mark Vette and his canine companion Reg are filmed. (supplied)

For most people, the idea of teaching dogs to fly a plane would be totally ludicrous -- but Kiwi animal behaviourist Mark Vette is rising to the challenge.

In fact, the man has a knack for doing the seemingly impossible; in 2012 he taught a handful of dogs how to drive a car. The resulting video went viral worldwide.

After riding the wave of media and public attention, Mr Vette is back with an even bolder plan. He's now filming the final stages of a documentary series titled Dogs Might Fly.

The series is funded by Oxford Scientific Films, and aims to explore communication, empathy, memory and reasoning with dogs to find out if they could really learn to fly.

Mr Vette had already been considering the idea when he was contacted by the film company.

"They called me from their lunch meeting and said they loved driving dogs, and said 'can you teach a dog how to fly a plane for me?'

"I said we were actually trying to do it in NZ."

He can't reveal too much detail about the series, which is in the final stages of production, but says one episode shows him taking the dogs to flight school.

Having worked with animals for 40 years, Mr Vette advocates strongly for animal adoption. Like his previous campaigns, this new series highlights just how clever shelter dogs can be.

Mr Vette has also launched a website named Dog Zen, which teaches the public how to train their own dogs to do amazing things.

"Dog Zen has been designed around the process of training dogs who have been rescued," he says.

While not everybody is expected to get their dogs airborne, he says the programme can help tap into the psychology of dogs and their long-standing relationship with humans.

"So what we are looking it is how dogs evolved over 50,000 years to become man and woman's best friend. In fact, new research shows that our survival as a species is probably hinged on the fact that we have this relationship with dogs," Mr Vette says.

Mr Vette says there are discussions to get the show aired in New Zealand, but it is likely Animal Planet or Discovery Channel will pick it up too.

He isn't the only Kiwi on the show either - he's joined by a former trainee of his who's now working in Scotland, Matt Ward.

Mr Vette says he hopes Dogs Might Fly will result in a surge in animal adoptions across the globe, just like the dog driving video did.

"When we did driving dogs, it converted into a huge number of rehomings all around the world, so that is what we are trying to achieve - that is our main aim."

Newshub.