We all remember that one day at school, when a dog got in the playground and everyone went a bit mental. Well that kind of thing has been happening throughout history, and those pesky canines have not just been disrupting kids learning. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, churches had to employ Dog Whippers, whose job it was to stop unruly mutts running in and causing a fuss. A Dog Whippers tools included a three-foot long whip and a pair of tongs, the latter used to remove particularly vicious dogs at a safe distance. It wasnt just stray dogs that caused problems either. Members of congregation would bring their best friends along to church, and often they would start fighting with each other. The Dog Whipper would remove them so the service could continue peacefully. In some places the job was not restricted to church grounds, meaning that they were often early versions of animal control officers.
