This is my dog, Rosie. I’m not going to claim that she’s the best dog on the planet, because I’m sure some of you think you know a dog that fits that description, so I’ll just say she’s among the top dogs on the planet. She’s gentle with kids, playful with any kind of dog, wicked smart, and an excellent foot-warmer.
I am now the proud owner of a treadmill desk, but for the past several years, the desk in my office was a built-in L-shaped thing, occupying one corner of the room. All last winter, Rosie’s bed was nestled in the corner underneath the desk, and she liked to sleep there while I worked. (Now she sleeps next to my treadmill, occasionally looking up and cocking her head at me in bewilderment.) My office is drafty on cold winter days, so I got into the habit of slipping off my shoes or slippers and burrowing my feet underneath her. (I also sometimes come home to find her sleeping on the bed–but she usually charms me out of getting mad at her.)
I did not know that there’s a long history of dogs who performed the task of foot-warmers and lap warmers. Lapdogs were welcomed into cold, drafty cathedrals and often were placed at the feet to keep the owner’s feet warm. According to this source, small dogs were also welcomed into the bed to warm it up, act as a heating pad, and to attract fleas from the human occupant to the dog.
On Wednesday I blogged about turnspit dogs, those unfortunate canines that toiled away in the kitchens of large houses, operating a treadmill that was attached to the turning spit. According to Stanley Coren’s The Pawprints of History, turnspit dogs didn’t even get Sundays off. They were often taken to church to serve as foot warmers during the long services in the cold, drafty houses of worship. According to Coren, witnesses reported that one Sunday, the Bishop of Gloucester was preaching from the Book of Ezekiel and shouted, “It was then that Ezekiel saw the wheel.” At the mention of the word “wheel,” several of the turnspit dogs clapped their tails between their legs and ran out of the church.
