Hidden Kitchens Story #2: Turnspit Dogs—The Rise & Fall of the Vernepator Cur
[audio: https://kitchensisters.org/audio/HKW_Turnspit%20Dogs_MIX_030414%201.mp3]
In an old hunting lodge on the grounds of an ancient Norman castle in Wales, a small extinct dog peers out of a handmade wooden display case.
“Whiskey is the last surviving specimen of a turnspit dog, albeit stuff,” says Sally Davis, long-time custodian at the Abergavenny Museum.
The turnspit was a breed of dog that was once an essential part of every large kitchen in Britain. The small cooking canine was bred to run in a wheel that turned a roasting spit in cavernous kitchen fireplaces.
“They were referred to as the Kitchen Dog, the Cooking Dog, or the Vernepator Cur,” says Caira Farrell, Library and Collections Manager at the Kennel Club in London as she pages through one of the oldest books on her shelves. “The very first mention of them in is 1576 in the first book on dogs ever written.”
“Turnspit dogs were viewed as kitchen utensils, as pieces of machinery rather than as dogs,” says Jan Bondeson, author of Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities. “The roar of the fire. The clanking of the spit. The patter from the little dog’s feet. The wheels were put up quite high on the wall, far from the fire in order for the dogs not to overheat and faint.” Bondeson is just warming up. “One way of training the dog was to throw a glowing coal into the wheel to make the dog speed up a bit.” MORE
