Forgotten Jobs : Dog Whipper And Sluggard Waker (fouetteurs de chiens et piqueurs de paresseux·ses)
▻https://www.amusingplanet.com/2020/03/forgotten-jobs-dog-whipper-and-sluggard.html
Quand on emmenais son chien à la messe mais qu’on avait pas le droit d’y dormir.
Many churches had full-time dog whippers, but because budget was tight, they were assigned other duties like that of the “sluggard waker”. A sluggard waker watched over the attending congregation and if any of them fell asleep, it was his duty to wake them up. He carried a long wooden pole, tipped with a brass knob or a fork, with which he knocked sharply on the heads of the dozing lads, or poked between the shoulder blades with the fork. Some sticks were tipped on both ends—a brass knob (or fork) on one end and a fox tail on the other. If the sluggard waker spied a drowsy female, he used the fluffy end to gently tickle her awake.
The dog whipper was paid in any way possible, such as cash or essential goods. One church in Birchington-on-Sea, in Kent, donated an acre of land to the dog whipper. There is a small park there now, called ’Dog Acre’.
Dog whippers started to fade from the late 18th century onwards, as churches began instructing believers to leave their pets at home. One of the last recorded dog whippers was John Pickard, at Exeter Cathedral. He was appointed in 1856. Exeter Cathedral still has a dog whipper but only for ceremonial purposes.
Many churches also carry relics of this forgotten profession. In St. Anne’s Church, Baslow, Derbyshire, there is a dog whipper’s whip hanging in a case by the door. In St. Margaret’s Church in Wrenbury, Cheshire, there is a dog whipper’s pew, and in the Great Church of St. Bavo in Haarlem, The Netherland, one can see a carving of a dog whipper removing a dog with his whip.
