The Forgotten Church Profession of Dog-Whipper

In England and Europe, Church services used to be much more chaotic. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, household dogs would often accompany parishioners and follow them on their way to church.

The congregation of dogs would patiently wait until Mass ended, but fighting would inevitably break out among the pack of parishioner pets gathering outside the church doors, especially when stray dogs – a big problem at the time – would enter into the mix.

Enter the forgotten, noble profession of the dog whipper. The dog whipper carried (as the name implies) a whip and a pair of “dog tongs.” The dog whipper was charged with shooing away unruly dogs from crowding around the church or when they attacked the priest while he was handing out the Body and Blood of Christ. The tongs came in handy when the dogs would fight back or the pack became difficult to handle, used to grab a dog by the neck and physically remove them from the church grounds.

The dog whipper usually served double duty as the “sluggard waker.” They would peer over the congregation, searching for any parishioners that dozed off. He carried a long wooden pole with a bronze wooden fork on one end and fox tail on the other. A sleeping male would be poked in between the shoulder blades with the fork, and a sleeping female would be brushed awake with the fox tail.

The dog whipper / sluggard waker generally had his own designated pew, and was paid in anyway the parish could afford. Cash, essential goods – in some cases, even donations of land.

With the advent of animal shelters, and when dogs became increasingly unwelcome during church services, the prevalence of the dog whipper dwindled and the profession became all but forgotten.

Photo credit: Jane023 via Wikimedia Commons | Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons