Friday, May 26, 2006


In Our culture, dogs are considered to be unclean animals. Outside of the fact that in Pakistan dogs are mostly stray rather than pets, dogs are considered to be unclean according to Islamic law. It is said that angels will not enter a home wherein there is a dog. Furthermore, prayers offered in an impure area are invalid; dogs, as a source of impurity, make roomes and homes impure. These are some reasons used to justify not keeping dogs as pets.

Even if dogs are kept as pets, they are outside animals, meaning that they would not be welcome inside the home. Of course, the perception that dogs are unclean no doubt also plays a role in this fact.

Therefore, those of Our culture are, to begin with, not used to having to deal with dogs or cats as pets. In contrast, it seems that most Americans are used to dealing with dogs and/or cats. In addition, those of Our culture do not understant dogs: why do they what they do? how ought one to deal with dogs? what are the expectations in interacting with dogs?

Although these still remain mysteries to Us, We are beginning to understand more about dogs by reading what bloggers have said about their pets. We thank these bloggers for expanding Our understanding. One day, We hope to know how to interact properly and confidently with dogs.

Here are some dogblogging posts:

Dave in Texas
Save This Dog (crossposted on Innocent Bystanders)
The Beagle Controversy
Senor Dumbass (crossposted on Innocent Bystanders)

Innocent Bystanders
They Never Have A Bad Day
Faster Than A Speeding Rig
Photographic Update
Let Me People Go
Great American Superhero
If You Don't Vote, You Can't Complain

More Dogblogging

Mrs. Peel

You Are In Soooo Much Trouble, Mister!
My Buddy (2)
My 4-legged Terror...
My Buddy (1)
Winter Wonderland
My Best Bud Riley

Cake or Death?
Time Flies When You're Scoopin' Poop
Blizzard Pics

innaa naHnu-l-a'lam.


At 6:52 AM, Anonymous adolfo velasquez said...

I'm a cat person, myself - don't really like dogs.

However, my mom has a labrador than is so smart, it can practically wash the windows and do her taxes. She took it through numerous training programs, so the dog doesn't do any of the normal dog stuff (like jumping on people or chasing things without permission). It's not quite as trained as a seeing-eye dog, but getting there. It even teaches itself new tricks, just to get treats.

From this dog, I've learned that dogs want discipline. They are pack animals and get confused if you let them run wild. Too many dog owners let their animals run the house. That's probably why I don't like dogs.

At 2:19 AM, Blogger Wickedpinto said...

Observe a proud owner of a dog or a cat interact with that dog or cat, actually watch it.

You will see more humanity in the simple interaction of an owner and their pet than you are likely to see in most human interaction. The relationship is simple. Love the Dog, feed the dog, house the dog, and the dog will pay you back by loving you back. Granted it is still an animal,and there is always the creature within, but the pet always appreciates the care more than the desire to be the animal.

My favorite pet scene, is in the movie "Dave" about the guy faking being the president. Where a grown man goes out, in a suit and plays with the dogs on the white house lawn.

It's impossible to explain you have to experience it.

At 5:23 AM, Blogger Wickedpinto said...

I was just watching the tube and I just remembered another great depiction of the dog/master, or dog/owner relationship. In fact I thought of two.

If you have ever seen the movie "The Patriot" starring Mel Gibson. There is a scene where he delivers the dogs to Lord Cornwallis, he negotiates an exchange that was fraudulent. After the exchange, as he leads his men out, Mel whistles, and the dogs run away from their owner to join Mel's character.

Most dog owners see just how deep an insult that is. If you aren't a pet owner or from a culture that cherishes the relationship between pet and owner it would be hard to understand.

There is another . . . not scene, but rather a very minor subplot in the movie "Silverado" (one of the best contemporary westers) where Kevin Klines character is constantly asked by the bad guys (since kevin klines character is a reformed bad guy, and used to ride with the bad guys who make up the plot) constantly rib him about "hows the dog" or some such.

Towards the end of the movie you learn the story. Kevin Kline was an outlaw, who took in this dog, and he treated the dog as something of a mascot. and one of the bad guys (I think the particular bad guy's name was ringo, how stereotypical, played by Michael Biehn) one day, after stealing an unfamiliar horse (if you ride horses, you know that to really ride a horse you have to be familiar with it, but anyways) mounts the horse, and the dog scares the horse, and the horse rears, and dumps ringo. Ringo then shoots the dog. That is when Kevin Kline decides to quit the bad guys.

that is the power of a beloved pet. It will make you a better person having known a creature with no ulterior motives.

Sorry for the length of the posts, and the multi-posting without discussion.

At 5:36 AM, Blogger Wickedpinto said...

Shit I just thought of two more stories!

I had a boss, and he invited all of his workers (he wasn't an owner so I wasn't his employee, I was his worker) out to his cottage for a long weekend, actually I think it was Memorial Day weekend (a bad weekend for me to spend with people who make decisions about my employment, I tend to get DAHRuhUHNK! The whole "why'd I leave the Marine Corps" thing) anyways, we all get out there, it's early in the day, and this woman drives up to the cottage, gets out of the car, says the two names, and two retrievers come out of the car. She walks up to my boss, and says "take care of them" and the chemistry between my boss and this chick is ICY, like queen of narnia shit, then she gets back into the car and leaves.

Later on I'm drunk enough to ask, something along the lines of "what was up with that bitch!" and it turns out it was his ex-wife, an ex-wife of more than 5 years. But when they got divorced, they didn't have kids, they had property, but they had the property all settled when they decided it was gonna be a divorce. What stretched out the divorce was custody of the dogs, they weren't gonna break up the two dogs, so they had written into their decree, joint custody for their pets.

The other one is a joke, it's one of those urban legends that is true, though it in all likelihood never occured, but pet owners, especially men with dogs understand it.

During the divorce I gave her the house, the car. I gave her the savings, I gave her the alimony, but there is no way she was gonna get my dog.

I've always loved my poochies, they are children, and honest friends, they don't lecture you for talking too much, they don't wonder why you aren't talking to them, and in fact, it only takes a small or large (I had a mutt Boxer/great dane, and a maltese, in size, thats like having a goldfish, followed by marlin) paw on your foot, or knee, or in some cases, head or shoulder, and you look into the honest eyes of a pet, and you become a spirit filled with nothing but joy.

Actually thinking about it? I think Islam might be able to reduce their volume of evil, if pets were more common in their lives. After all, Women, the prefered pet of islam, look at the men with fear, while animals look at their masters with respect, love, and just a simple primal desire to play, or eat, or run.

At 6:44 AM, Blogger Wickedpinto said...

Another thing I just latched onto while reading your post.

"why is it they do what they do" (you didn't type that, but I think that was your intention, pardon me for correcting your grammar, specially since mine sucks as much ass, as a dog, with an unblead assgland)

Well, Dogs as pets, do the verious things that they do for the same reasons that everyone does everything inexplicable does what every person does.

Why do you learn another language, familiarize yourself with another faith, half convert, have gnosticize while remaining mostly muslim in your viewpoint?

It's because you have the time. Your commentary, and definition of Islam is built on the fact that that is what you know better than most, but in essence you are confused wester collegiate, looking for a definition by defining yourself by who you were. (I'm assuming a lot here, let me know if I am out of line) I do the same with the whole "I was a Marine" thing. I know that I WAS, WAS, not am, and I have to reconcile that with who I am. I get a bit of that from you.

Anyways, now that my days and nights are filled with being a Marine, I find myself reading constantly, when I've read all the books in the house, I hit the net, and sometimes I'm reminded of my books, and I re-read them, and then I hit the net again.

I work, and I come home. Peole think that we work too hard, the truth is that we don't, and I know a lot of immigrants who think that the american lifestyle consists of a LOT OF WORK, and as a lifelong american, I can say for a fact, it really isn't.

I have enough time, even when I did work LONG, not hard, but LONG at a shitty job, I could still read 3 books a week, at least, thats assuming I spent the weekends NOT reading, but fucking, and barbequeing, and drinking, and then fucking again, and again (I was a bit of a whore for a while) anyways.

Why do dogs do what they do?

At least those dogs, and cats, and other pets that are kept as pets, they do what they do? cuz they don't have to worry about starving, they don't have to worry about gathering together for a great hunt, they don't have to use all their effort to engage in a failed effort of hunting a single creature that can't feed them all.

Pets have the leisure time to come up with new pass times, like. . if it's a cat, sleeping on your face ( I HATE THAT! Every cat owner I know, who's house I have crashed at, has had at least one cat that ALWAYS FELL ASLEEP ON MY FACE!!! Irritating, specialy since those said same cats hate me during the day(not a cat man)) if it's a dog? it's toe licking (I blame the salt) or the random torso jumping.

domesticated cats and dogs, do what they do, cuz they don't have to worry about being animals anymore, they are allowed the chance to make choices, and succeed and fail, without concern for their daily meal.

I don't know sometimes I over intellectualize animals, or sub-intellectualize myself, when it comes to pets.

At 6:48 AM, Blogger Wickedpinto said...

Oh and BTW, it's been about a week, but the loud, obnoxious, and verbose WP is back.

Hope you don't mind.


At 3:08 PM, Anonymous Elzbth said...

Dogs are great. I have been around dogs most of my life and they are loyal, fun, affectionate companions. I also think cats are great, but in a very different way. Wickedpinto is on to something there when he says we all subintellectualize ourselves when it comes to our pets. Maybe that is another reason we are so fond of them.

At 1:21 AM, Anonymous Vinnie said...

The Muslim avoidance of dogs shows an inherent disregard of innovation that is prevalent throughout history.

From the fearsome Rottweiler (bred to guard) to the lowly Chihuahua (bred to hunt mice), the various breeds of dogs around today display the vast difference between Muslim and Western culture.

I wonder if the Saudis have the same disdain for the Western built oil wells that they have for dogs.

At 10:28 AM, Blogger Christopher Taylor said...

I've never been a big dog guy, but if I had a farm or a lot of land I'd get one because they are perfect in that kind of setting. Dogs are their most useful when they work, and not so great as just pets, I think. I feel so bad for a big ol' dawg with some guy living in the city. The poor thing gets walked around the block once in a while and lives in a tiny box most of it's life.

At 10:51 AM, Anonymous blaclflag said...

Hello Muslihuun,
Interesting post you have here. Personally, I've had dogs around since I was very young and I'm of the opinion that dogs make good pets. However, dogs are animals, not "people", they each have thier own distinct personality but they are still animals. As an example, I recently had a Black Labrador (died of old age at 14 yrs) who was a "Protector" for our family. She always placed herself between us and strangers (face towards them), she always lay on the floor between a family member and the door (face towards the door) she was an excellent pet and earned her keep here.

My current dog is a "Walker 'Coon Hound" (yes, for hunting Racoons) and though she is a good hunter she prefers to be "The Protected" member of the family. She typically moves to place me between herself and any interloper in our group, she'll bark an alarm but wont fight in defence. Not that I mind as I'm capable of defending myself but I realize that she prefers to let me do the protecting for both of us.

This behaviour is probably due to the fact that she was subservient to the Lab mentioned above and let me fill that role when the Lab passed.

I have the strong belief a dog owner must be able to control thier animal. Alot of people can't, or won't discipline the dog and it needs to be done. As far as dogs being "unclean", well, they are animals but from a religious stand point Christians dont have a distinct aversion to them. Serpents tend to fill the slot for animals Christians don't keep or have any sort of religious aversion to.

At 6:31 AM, Blogger Scott said...

I'm also a cat person, but it's fun to play with other people's dogs when I'm visiting friends or family - owning a dog is a big commitment (or should be), as they are boisterous, need a lot of outdoors time, and don't do well on their own.

Nonetheless, a dog with responsible owners can be a pleasure - fun to play with, great with kids, protective (even if it's limited just to barking to warn of danger), and totally devoted.

Dirty? Only if you let them roll in the dirt or get into people's trash... ultimately that is the fault of the owner not the dog.

At 12:21 PM, Anonymous skinbad said...

I travelled across Africa many years ago with a friend. We were on the same route as a Swiss couple in a Land Rover and often camped near them. They had a big German Shepherd to guard their vehicle and stuff while they saw the sights. I was amazed at how terrified the Africans were of the dog. I think the dog sensed their fear and so put on a ferocious show for them. My kids see a dog and want to go pet the "cute doggy" no matter how mean it looks. Just different conditioning I guess.


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