After Nissan decided they were going to build a canine-friendly crossover vehicle, they enlisted the help of someone who knows a lot about dealing with powerful animals — Dennis McCarthy.
The car coordinator for the Fast & Furious films and owner of California-based Vehicle Effects, McCarthy was given full leash to customize the “Rogue Dogue” project vehicle and he ended up outfitting the build with features like a 360-degree dog shower, a custom dog bed in the rear cargo area and an integrated dog drying system with a compressed heated air dryer and hose.
Also, to cut down on distracted driving, McCarthy installed rear-facing side view mirror cameras that send continuous video of a “dog’s road trip experiences” to a hard drive for later viewing.
Nissan opted to greenlight the build after they surveyed 400 dog owners about animal safety and found 83 percent said safety and comfort of pets and passengers was equally important.
While you won’t find the one-off model in your local showroom anytime soon, McCarthy said all the additions he made are “very possible” to tack on to a production Rogue as long as an owner is willing to give up the cargo area in back.
We give the effort two paws up.
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