ABSTRACT
IN A N D A R O U N D C I T I E S dogs were used for guarding the house and forwork turning spits in large kitchens. Butchers in particular kept large and fierce dogs, sometimes for baiting animals before slaughter. However, it is likely that many urban dogs were not particularly closely tied to one household. Certainly nineteenth-century commentators complained that the dogs of the poor were turned out to fend for themselves for much of the day; few labouring households could afford to feed an animal when it could scavenge at least part of its own living.
