Hard time for dogs!

[dmjones]

Just thought readers might be interested in this:
1663, Oct. 2.
WILL. SALESBURY from Rug, to ROBERT GETHINE, esq., at Kerniogey.
‘I have at last procured you A dog to turn yr. spit. I have ryed what he would doe - in a whele I had, and find him to perform very well, if he stands still at any tyme you may give orders to whipp him to goe Continually…’

[RJ_Paton]

They even had a specific breed of dog for it says Wikipedia...

The Turnspit Dog was a short-legged, long-bodied dog bred to run on a wheel, called a turnspit or dog wheel, to turn meat. The type is now extinct. It is mentioned in Of English Dogs in 1576 under the name "Turnespete".[1] William Bingley's Memoirs of British Quadrupeds (1809) also talks of a dog employed to help chefs and cooks. It is also known as the Kitchen Dog, the Cooking Dog, the Underdog and the Vernepator. In Linnaeus's 18th century classification of dogs it is listed as Canis vertigus. The breed was lost since it was considered to be such a lowly and common dog that no record was effectively kept of it. They are related, it is believed,[by whom?] to the Glen of Imaal Terrier and Welsh Corgi.[citation needed]

The Vernepator Cur was bred to run on a wheel in order to turn meat so it would cook evenly. Due to the strenuous nature of the work, a pair of dogs would often be worked in shifts. The dogs were also taken to church to serve as foot warmers. One story says that during service at a church in Bath, the Bishop of Gloucester gave a sermon and uttered the line "It was then that Ezekiel saw the wheel...". At the mention of the word "wheel" several turnspit dogs, who had been brought to church as foot warmers, ran for the door.[citation needed]

Turnspits were described as "long-bodied, crooked-legged and ugly dogs, with a suspicious, unhappy look about them".[2] Often, they are shown with a white stripe down the center of their faces. According to Bingley's Memoirs of British Quadrupeds (1809):[3]

    The Turnspits are remarkable for their great length of body and short and usually crooked legs. Their colour is generally a dusky grey spotted with black or entirely black with the under parts whitish.

[Milliepede]

No wonder they had crooked legs 

[ThrelfallYorky]

... and no wonder it's extinct!

[kateblogs]

And no wonder they looked 'suspicious' and 'unhappy'!

[wilcoxon]

http://www.core77.com/blog/food/disturbing_history_dogs_were_once_used_to_power_kitchen_devices_26980.asp


poor things.