No, really -- dogs

[Jean-Joseph Cote]

>Before the introduction of jacks, spits for cooking were
>turned either by dogs trained for the purpose, or by lads
>kept by the family, or hired as occasions arose, to turn
>the spit or broach.
>
>-- James Halliwell's Dictionary of Archaisms and
>Provincialisms, 1855

Perhaps.  Or maybe Mr Halliwell also misunderstood this definition, and
proceeded to imaginatively elaborate on it.  It wouldn't be the only such
example in the history of dictionaries.

Jean-Joseph