In 1640, so many Aberdonians brought their dogs to church, the burgh council had to ban them from sermons. “The barking and peturbation of these dogges, aftin withdraw people from hearing of God’s word!”
UPDATE: It seems that it was fairly common for shepherds and other folk to bring their dogs to church with them, which for some parishes, was considered “sabbath-breaking”. In Inverurie there were stiff fines for bringing your dog to the kirk as outlines in this extract from the Kirk Session minutes:
Every an that brings doggs to the kirk with them to pay 40 shillings for the first time; hav a merk for the second tym, whilk is still to be doublit, so long as they continue so doing.
Inverurie Kirk Session Minutes, 17th February 1650.
In March 1673, Oyne parish kirk in The Garioch, Aberdeenshire, paid for a “dog-clip” to be made– a long handled pair of forceps that the official dogwhipper would use to grab dogs from the church and take them outside.
The role of “dogwhipper” can be seen the bottom right of David Allan’s 1807 etching “Presbyterian Penance (The Black Stool).
References
Mackinlay, J. (1897). Dogs in Church. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 31, 98-103.
Turreff, G. (1871) Antiquarian Gleanings from Aberdeenshire Records. James Murray, Aberdeen. pg. 174
Davidson, J. (1878) Inverurie and the Earldom of the Garioch. David Douglas, Edinburgh. pg. 316.