Dog-Powered Water Pump
Another way that dog-powered machines helped humanity was by pumping water out of the ground, like in this report from Chile in the 1850s.
From the May 26, 1855 issue of the Illustrated London News:
This ingenious method of raising water from deep wells, by the means of dogs, has now, for a number of years, been the only way of supplying all English and foreign men-of-war and merchantmen, as well as almost the whole town of Valparaiso, with water.
The water is raised from the well by wooden buckets, emptying themselves on a table, from which, through pipes, the water is conveyed to launches, put into casks and buckets, and delivered to its various quarters.
The wheel raising the buckets is driven by eight dogs, belonging to Don Juan Augustine Vives: They continually run upwards, with perfect ease only four of the dogs work at a time; and when one is tired he jumps off, and another takes his place.
Obviously, you can see the whip being wielded against the dogs, perhaps explaining why this method of water pumping fell out of favor. Not very nice at all.
