Cathy Isom continues her series on dogs by tells us some of the wackiest odd jobs for dogs on the farm. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
What may seem weird to us now, and in some cases cruel, wasn’t the case back then. Way back in time, that is.
Dogs have had all sorts of ways to help out on the farm aside from guarding and herding. And some of the jobs are just downright wacky. Including pulling carts for milk deliveries. Or, hauling vegetable and bread carts, and other goods. The practice was eventually banned, and that’s when donkeys took over.
Dogs were also used as spit turners. That meant countless hours of walking on a hamster wheel-like device that turned a spit used for roasting meat.
Another weird job, training dogs to sniff out delicious and expensive fungi that are used in French and Italian cooking.
Finally, way up north, as in North of the Arctic Circle, a rare breed of man’s best friend. The Lapinkoira or Finnish Lapphund dogs are used by the Sami people of Scandinavia to help herd and watch over their reindeer.
I’m Cathy Isom…
Image credit: (lower right) Illustration, by Henry Wigstead – Henry Wigstead (1799) Remarks on a Tour to North and South Wales: in the year 1797, No, 40 Charing Cross, London: W. Wigstead (publisher), pp. 52–53, Public Domain, Link