The Amazing Adventures of Archibald Esq.

The Tinker’s Cur and other English Dogs

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Dog duties through the ages have changed. British dogs have been all sorts in the past — from prized companion and hunting hound to tinker’s cur and butcher’s dog.

Dogs used to really be put to use… Pulling dog carts. Turning wheels…

And living in muck… Enduring the rain and cold in outdwellings and barns.

Of English Dogs by Johannes Caius (1576. Reprinted by Beech Publishing House, 1993) lists the following types of English Draft or Working Dogs:

Water Drawer: And these be of the greater and the weightier sort, drawing water out of wells … by a wheel which they turn about.

Tinker Cur: Because … they bear big buckets fraught with tinker’s tools and metal.

Turnspit: There is … a certain dog excellent in kitchen service. For when any meat is to be roasted, they go into a wheel; which they turn round with the weight of their bodies; and so diligently look to their business.

Things weren’t always like today, where dogs are, in the main, pampered companions and trusted allies.

Yes. The collective training by four-legged hounds of two-leggeds has been very successful! And I salute the generations or ancestor dogs who took part in the process!

And remembering them makes me glad I’m a pampered urban pooch, with a bed all my own, a little bachelor pad under the table, and a zillion toys and chews…

Awooof! Archibald

Posted 25 Feb 07