Turnspit dog

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 as it cooked. It is mentioned in Of English Dogs in 1576 under the name "Turnespete". William Bingley's Memoirs of British Quadrupeds (1809) also talks of a dog employed to help chefs and cooks. It was also known as the Kitchen Dog, the Cooking Dog, or the Wheeling Dog. In Linnaeus's 18th-century classification of dogs it is listed as Canis vertigus (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. With advancements in kitchen technology, the need for turnspit dogs declined. Over time, they were no longer bred for their specific function, and their numbers dwindled, eventually leading to their extinction. A preserved example of a turnspit dog is displayed at Abergavenny Museum in Abergavenny, Wales.