Chefs in Elizabethan England specialized in roasting meat before an open fire. To make the perfect roast dinner, they relied on a special bit of kitchen equipment: a tough, short-legged, long-bodied dog bred to run in a wheel. As the dog raced along, it turned a spit, ensuring that meat on the spit cooked evenly. Dogs worked in pairs, taking turns to run in the wheel. The dogs got one day off a week to go to church on Sundays.