Dogs driving cars, and sales, at Subaru

Subaru this month rolled out a series of ads featuring dogs behind the wheel of cars.

In the ads for the Subaru Forester, the canine driver confronts the kind of situations with which we human drivers are familiar - the indecipherable voice at the drive-up window, the travails of parallel parking, and, of course, a pushy cat stealing our parking space.

The ads all end with the tagline “Dog tested. Dog approved.”

The spots premiered during a marathon of  Animal Planet’s “Dogs 101,” and were shown during the Puppy Bowl and Westminster Dog Show.

About half of Subaru’s customers own a pet, and the company has recognized the importance of being dog friendly — in making its cars and its ads.

In 2008, Subaru, which is an ASPCA sponsor, ran print ads that asked ”Without dogs, how would you get rid of that new-car smell?”

The new ads, though clearly in the “don’t try this at home” department, are pretty witty. Here are two more: