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 A roasting jack is a machine which rotates meat roasting on a spit. It can also be called a spit jack, a spit engine or a turnspit, although this name can also refer to a human turning the spit, or a turnspit dog. Cooking meat on a spit dates ...

or dog wheel, to turn meat. It is mentioned in ''Of English Dogs'' in 1576 under the name "Turnespete".

William Bingley William Bingley (January 1774 – 11 March 1823) was an English cleric, naturalist and writer. Life Bingley was born at Doncaster, and left an orphan at an early age. In 1795 he entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, and took the degree of B.A. in 1799, a ...

'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 The Glen of Imaal Terrier ( gle, Brocaire Uí Mháil) is a breed of dog of the terrier category and one of four Irish terrier breeds. It is sometimes called the Irish Glen of Imaal Terrier or the Wicklow Terrier, and the name of the breed i ...

, 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 ), mea ...

. A preserved example of a turnspit dog is displayed at Abergavenny Museum in Abergavenny, Wales.

Work

The Vernepator

Cur A cur was a dog breed used by cattle drovers in England. The breed is now extinct. In the United States a short-haired dog used in hunting and herding is called "cur-tailed", or "cur" for short. In modern speech, the term ''cur'' is usually u ...

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 John George Wood, or Rev J. G. Wood, (21 July 1827 – 3 March 1889), was an English writer who popularised natural history with his writings. Life and work Early life and ordination John George Wood was born in London, son of the surgeon J ...

in ''The Illustrated Natural History (Mammalia)'' (1853): 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.

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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

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 A spaniel is a type of gun dog. Spaniels were especially bred to flush game out of denser brush. By the late 17th century, spaniels had been specialized into water and land breeds. The extinct English Water Spaniel was used to retrieve water ...

. Often they are shown with a white stripe down the center of their faces. According to Bingley's ''Memoirs of British Quadrupeds'' (1809): The turnspit dog is again described by H.D. Richardson in his book ''Dogs; Their Origin and Varieties'' (1847): The crooked leg is most likely owed to very distant ancestors as noted in ''Dogs And All About Them'' (1910), by Robert Leighton: 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

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

Work

Appearance

References

Further reading

External links