In the 1500s, there was a little dog called Turnspit, whose job was to roast meat.
The dog was a widespread kitchen attendant until the mid-1800s, when new tech took the breed's trade.
The Turnspit was just one of a vast constellation of dog breeds, past and present.
The immense physical variety of dogs makes them among the world's most diverse species, and likely the one with the greatest range in size.
A Pomeranian, for example, might weigh two kilograms, while a Mastiff could tip the scale to 100.
So, why is this?
And what does a dog's breed actually say about them?
All dogs descend from ancient wolves that started living around humans at least 15,000 years ago.
Dogs are the first domesticated species by a landslide of thousands of years.
Over time, it's thought that humans began relying on dogs for specific tasks, and selectively breeding them for particular traits, fueling the dramatic diversification of dogs planet-wide.
