Tag: Pets

Turnspit Dogs: The Forgotten Kitchen Helpers of Britain | August 24 2026, 01:18

It turns out that for several centuries in Britain, they kept a breed of dog with exactly one job — to serve as the drive for a kitchen mechanism. Turnspit dog, a cooking-jack dog. Short-legged, long-bodied, bandy-legged, yet surprisingly powerful. On the kitchen wall, a few meters away from the hearth, hung a wooden wheel nearly a meter in diameter—like a squirrel cage, only larger. A dog was put inside, the wheel connected to the spit by a shaft and chain, and the dog would tirelessly move its legs for hours to rotate the roast over the fire. The first recorded mention dates back to 1576: in John Caius’s treatise on English dogs, they are classified as a separate type, Turnespete. In the 18th century, Linnaeus even gave them a taxonomic name — Canis vertigus, “spinning dog.”

The wheel was hung higher and further from the hearth, so the dog wouldn’t overheat. Not out of sentimentality: in early designs, where it stood right by the fire, dogs hated this job so much that they would run away as soon as they saw the kitchen boy with a piece of meat. A reduction gear — the dog runs fast, the spit turns slowly, perfect for an even crust. In large kitchens, they kept two dogs and rotated them: one spins, the other rests. Hence, according to a persistent legend, the English saying every dog has his day—though etymologists, admittedly, debate this. There was also stimulation, unpleasant to read about: a hot coal could be thrown into the wheel to make the paws move faster.

The breed was doomed by the smokejack—a chimney turbine that spun the spit with the free flow of hot air. Cheap factory mechanisms (clock jacks, a spring with weights, like in floor clocks) and the Victorian cast-iron stove, after which the open hearth completely disappeared from kitchens, delivered the final blows. By the mid-19th century, turnspit dogs became a rarity; by the end of the century, they were gone entirely: no one kept this dog as a companion, they weren’t valued for their temperament to begin with. From Canis vertigus today — only a stuffed specimen named Whiskey in the Abergavenny Museum in Wales and a few rare prints remain. It is written that their bloodlines can be found in Welsh Corgis and Glen of Imaal Terriers, but, as far as I know, this has not been seriously genetically tested.

Exploring the Booming Business of Pet Waste Removal Services | August 13 2026, 02:05

By the way, a car with the logo Pet Waste Removal periodically drives up to our neighbor’s place. It was a revelation to discover that in the USA there is an entire niche—special services that clean up lawns from dog poop so that little children can more safely run around the same lawn. There are dozens of such companies around me. I never imagined such a thing existed.

(But the funny thing is that the neighbor has a cat. And here my imagination really took a hit. I don’t know, maybe he just has a friend working there, but there are litter box services. They come once or twice a week, completely change the filler, disinfect the litter box, and take away the waste)

So, Pet Waste Removal is indeed a huge industry with a rich internal culture. They have their own professional association — aPaws (Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists), which holds an annual International Pooper Scooper Week” in April. Some franchises cost tens of thousands of dollars to join, and the market is estimated at hundreds of millions. The logic is simple: the average dog produces about 100 kg of waste per year, there are nearly 90 million dogs in the US, and most owners genuinely hate this part of dog ownership.

There’s even a surreal branch—PooPrints service. Residential complexes and HOAs require residents to submit their dogs’ DNA to a database, and when an “unidentified” pile is found on the lawn, it’s sent for genetic testing to identify the offending owner. Fines range from $150 to $500.

Our Yuki has never (or seems like once in five years) done his business in the yard. Well, never at home, even as a puppy, and never once made a puddle. So he, too, looks at all this with puzzlement. And in the US, dogs are let out through a door, they do their thing, run around— and back inside. Many dogs in the suburbs for years do not know what it’s like to walk on a leash in the usual sense familiar to us.

From Bar Joke to Millionaire: The Unbelievable Success of the Pet Rock | August 05 2026, 00:55

Today I found out that the most successful product of Christmas 1975 was a rock. Just a regular rock. Gary Dahl, an advertiser from California, was sitting in a bar and listening to his friends complain about their pets – feeding them, walking them, cleaning up after them – and jokingly said that he had the perfect pet – a rock. It doesn’t need feeding, doesn’t poop, doesn’t die. The joke turned into a business plan over the course of the evening. Dahl bought smooth pebbles from Rosarito Beach in Mexico for about a cent apiece and sold them for $3.95 each. Every rock was shipped in a cardboard carrying box – with air holes “for breathing” and straw bedding inside. And here’s the kicker: the product wasn’t the rock. The product was the accompanying 32-page care and training manual, written stone-faced (pardon the pun): commands like sit” and lie down” are learned instantly, come here” and fetch” are a bit harder, and it executes the command “die” brilliantly.

Within a few months, over a million units were sold, Dahl became a millionaire, he was written about in magazines and invited on television. By early 1976 it was all over, warehouses remained filled with unsold rocks, and attempts to replicate the success with other novelty products failed. Dahl died in 2015, but the Pet Rock brand lives on: the rock in its original packaging can still be purchased today.

(How I came across this. I am currently reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and came across the phrase “They were the Pet Rock of parenting.” – referring to Amy’s parents. I did not understand it and went to google what this Pet Rock was.)

The Rise and Fall of the Pet Rock Craze | August 05 2026, 00:55

Today I learned that the most successful Christmas product of 1975 was a rock. Just a regular rock. Gary Dahl, an advertiser from California, was sitting in a bar listening to his friends complain about their pets — feeding them, walking them, cleaning up after them — and jokingly said that he had the perfect pet: a rock. It doesn’t need to be fed, doesn’t poop, doesn’t die. What began as a joke that evening turned into a business plan. Dahl bought smooth pebbles from Rosarito Beach in Mexico for about a cent apiece and sold them for $3.95 each. Each rock came in a cardboard carrying case — with “breathing” holes and straw bedding inside. And here’s the main point: the product wasn’t the rock. The product was the accompanying 32-page care and training manual, written with a stone-faced (pardon the pun) seriousness: the commands “sit” and “stay” are learned instantaneously by the pet, “come here” and “fetch” not so much, and it performs the command “die” brilliantly.

In a few months, more than a million units were sold, Dahl became a millionaire, and he was written about in magazines and invited on television shows. By the beginning of 1976, it was all over, warehouses remained with unsold rocks, and attempts to repeat success with other novelty products failed. Dahl died in 2015, but the Pet Rock brand lives on: you can still buy a rock in its branded box today.

(How I found this out. I’m currently reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and came across the phrase “They were the Pet Rock of parenting.” – about Amy’s parents. I didn’t understand it and went to Google what this Pet Rock was.)

Bizarre Dog Pills that Make Poop Unappetizing | June 12 2026, 20:29

Holy cow, it turns out there are pills to stop dogs from eating poop. They actually work. They make other dogs’ poop taste bad for dogs, plus the pills pretend to be and really are exactly what those dogs appreciate about poop

Yuki is very surprised by other dogs

Two Simple Rules for Controlling Hunger | June 09 2026, 21:33

Two rules were born that still work:

1. If you want to eat – try drinking some water. If you drink and still want to eat – see point 2.

2. Take soup or a half portion. If you ate and still want to eat – take another half portion.

P.S. Yuki said he doesn’t like the rules. He had a New York sous-vide steak with buckwheat from Cuckoo for lunch today, and in an hour, he will have cheese with wine while watching the series Succession (he always gives the wine to me). He still doesn’t understand why we sprinkle his New York steak with buckwheat with dry food.