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The Unsung Canine Chef: Remembering the Turnspit, the Dog That Cooked Dinner and Was Erased by Technology
Meet the Turnspit, an extinct dog breed bred for one purpose: to run in a wheel, powering a rotating spit to cook meat. Once a common kitchen appliance, this hardworking canine was sadly rendered obsolete by machinery, a poignant tale of a living engine forgotten by time.
Imagine a bustling 16th-century kitchen. The air is thick with smoke from a roaring hearth, and the centerpiece is a large joint of meat, rotating slowly over the flames. But this isn't the work of a hand crank or a clever machine. The power source is alive. Tucked away near the fireplace is a small, long-bodied dog, tirelessly trotting inside a wooden wheel. This was the Turnspit, a canine breed engineered for a single, grueling purpose: to be a living motor for your dinner.
A Breed Built for Labor
The Turnspit dog, or vernepator cur as it was sometimes known, was not bred for beauty or companionship. It was a functional creature, described as having a long body, crooked legs, and a heavy head. In his work Systema Naturae, Carl Linnaeus classified them as Canis vertigus, or the dizzying dog. Their unique physique was perfectly suited for their monotonous task. Historian John George Wood noted in his 1853 book Illustrated Natural History:
They are long-bodied, crooked-legged, and ugly dogs, with a suspicious, unhappy look about them, as if they were weary of the world and valued their lives but little.
These dogs were seen less as pets and more as pieces of kitchen equipment. Their job was relentless. In the intense heat of the hearth, they would run for hours inside the wheel, which was mounted on the wall and connected to the spit by a chain or pulley system. In larger kitchens, two dogs would often work in shifts to prevent exhaustion. Anecdotal evidence suggests the dogs were clever enough to know their schedule, with some reportedly hiding when they knew it was their turn to work.
From Kitchen Staple to Foot Warmer
Despite their arduous lives, the Turnspit dogs carved out a unique place in society. Their one day of rest was Sunday, when they were often taken to church. Not as a reward, but to serve another purpose: as foot warmers for their owners during long, cold services. This peculiar practice even led to a famous story about a bishop giving a sermon who, upon mentioning the line “It was then that Ezekiel saw the wheel...”, caused several Turnspit dogs in the congregation to instinctively bolt for the door, associating the word “wheel” with their work.
Erased by the Industrial Revolution
The Turnspit’s reign as a kitchen essential lasted for centuries, but their fate was sealed by the advance of technology. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, cheap and reliable mechanical spit-turners, known as clockwork jacks, became widely available. These machines could do the dog’s job without tiring, without needing to be fed, and without complaint. The very specialization that made the Turnspit dog so useful also became its downfall. With no other purpose, there was no reason to continue breeding them.
By the mid-19th century, they were becoming increasingly rare. The last known surviving Turnspits were reportedly kept as pets by Queen Victoria, who took pity on the now-unemployed breed. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded in 1866 in part due to concerns over the treatment of these dogs. By 1900, the Turnspit dog was officially extinct, a casualty of industrial progress. Their story is a powerful, if somber, reminder of how human innovation can shape, and ultimately erase, the existence of the animals that serve us.