The turnspit dog is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
short-legged, long-bodied dog bred to run on a wheel, called a
turnspit or dog wheel, to turn meat. It is mentioned in ''Of English Dogs'' in 1576 under the name "Turnespete".
'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
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
's 18th-century classification of dogs it is listed as (also used as Latin name for the Dachshund). The breed was lost, since it was considered to be such a lowly and common dog that no record was effectively kept of it. Some sources consider the Turnspit dog a kind of
Glen of Imaal Terrier,
[ while others make it a relative of the ]Welsh Corgi
The Welsh Corgi ( or Corgi, plural Corgis, or occasionally the etymologically consistent Corgwn; ) is a small type of herding dog that originated in Wales. The name ''corgi'' is derived from the Welsh words and (which is mutated to ), me ...
.[
A preserved example of a turnspit dog is displayed at Abergavenny Museum in Abergavenny, Wales.]
Work
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. According to John George Wood in ''The Illustrated Natural History (Mammalia)'' (1853):Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
, the Bishop of Gloucester gave a sermon and uttered the line "It was then that Ezekiel
Ezekiel (; he, יְחֶזְקֵאל ''Yəḥezqēʾl'' ; in the Septuagint written in grc-koi, Ἰεζεκιήλ ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible.
In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is ac ...
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.[
]Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
kept retired turnspit dogs as pets.[
]
Appearance
Turnspit dogs were described as "long-bodied, crooked-legged and ugly dogs, with a suspicious, unhappy look about them".[ Delabere Blaine, a 19th-century ]veterinarian
A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...
(and self-described "father of canine pathology"), classified the Turnspit dog as a variety of spaniel.[
The gene for ]chondrodysplasia
Osteochondrodysplasia is a general term for a disorder of the development (dysplasia) of bone ("osteo") and cartilage ("chondro"). Osteochondrodysplasias are rare diseases. About 1 in 5,000 babies are born with some type of skeletal dysplasia. Non ...
in various short-legged breeds has been confirmed to trace back to a single ancestral mutation.
References
Further reading
*
External links
"Whiskey" the turnspit dog, 19th century, stuffed, at Abergavenny Museum
Dog wheel turnspit, 18th century, from Coed Cernyw, Monmouthshire, at Abergavenny Museum
{{Extinct breeds of dog
Dog types
Extinct dog breeds
Dog breeds originating in the United Kingdom
Working dogs