Dont blame the dogs ! blame the law and the owners ! when i lived in the UK and was in the military i used to run and around the Middlesex area . The amount of times i had dogs stop me in my tracks or chase me , it spoiled my routine , my run and wound me up ! usually the owners response would be "he /she is only playing " it seems that some peoples dogs were of more importance than any human beings , along with the arrogance of some people . I live in Japan now , dogs are kept on leads (its the law ) even in parks ! leaving waste is an offense ! the nature of Japanese people and their culture means that other people are respected and dogs are dogs !! kept on lead ! dog mess is effectively removed into a bag or scoop !and 20 years on from the Military I can now jog rather than run in a park and not be worried about the next leg snapper taking a chunk out of my ankle !!!

I love dogs. Don't discriminate against the species. They are one of the most intelligent animals and bring joy to plenty of lonely people.
Spend a day with a dog (not a rottweiler) then rewrite the blog please.

Too right Mehdi. The British love of dogs is deranged. They're dirty animals that sniff their own backsides and lick their own balls. And then the Brits let the dirty little buggers lick their faces. Disgusting.

They're stupid too. You can kick a dog around and it'll still love you. Whereas a cat ... now that's an intelligent animal.

This is undoubtedely the best blog you have ever written.

Anything that licks its balls then licks its ass and then tries to lick your face should be shot.

And your dislike of dogs wouldn't happen to stem from religious reasons would it?

Charles - if that were the case, then why does secular atheist leftie comedian Mark Steel object to dogs and dog-owners in a similar vein? It is indeed true that Muslims and dogs don't mix but, as I said in the post, I don't like any animals. Not even cats which the Prophet Muhammad is alleged to have adored.

Does that make sense? Or are the Islamophobes in the blogosphere intent on discovering the "religious" reason for everything I write and say?

yes yes yes! bloody dogs! great post mehdi, thanks for this.

That is easily the most pathetic thing I've read in a long while, across all blogs/websites/newspapers/etc.
I won't bother going into how it has been scientifically proven that dogs raise the spirits of (almost all) those they come into contact with, or how dog-owners tend to be, in fact, more sociable with their human pals than those who don't have a canine companion.
Surely it's common sense that when people stop to pet homeless people's dogs, it's perhaps because they feel sorry for the poor animal who has been forced onto the streets by its owner.
And people don't parade their dogs around town, they're taking them for a walk - it would be cruel not to.
You don't like dogs - great - but don't insult people who read your usually intelligent blog posts by publishing a ranty polemic against man's best friend.
I don't own a dog myself, by the way, but only because I wouldn't be able to devote to it the time and care it would deserve.

just a bit more....
monkee/jai...thanks.....i think i like monkee better
the bad things my dog has done...not good for his Karma to kill mice, even though they carry germs and their poop will make me sick.
I was downtown and a fellow ran around the corner right at us, my dog jumped before I could react and put his paws on the fellows shoulders and barked in his face. Well this took the poor fellow by suprise and stopped him dead in his tracks, almost made him do to dodo on the sidewalk, I hauled back as soon as I could react and apologized, was about to give the dog all kinds of verbal abuse....as the cop came around the corner jumped on this guy and beat the crap outta him....so...
Seems god/dog are older than 10,000 years....I like to think god gave me this companion to remind me of his love....and I'm the agnostic?

Wow, what a crazy rant. I can understand your view somewhat - I have a dislike for cats and don't understand why anyone would want one as a pet - however I would never call for all cats to be disposed of or something.

Dogs are fantastic pets, companions and to many 'another member of the family'. Man's best friend? Yes...for 10,000 years...and hopefully for another 10,000.

Not that it has anything to do with why Mehdi wrote this rant but here's an interesting read: Khaled Abou El Fadl on dogs in the Islamic tradition: http://scholarofthehouse.net/dinistrandna.html

damn, just spotted the spelling mistakes in my retort....

" It is indeed true that Muslims"

Speak for yourself, Mr Hasan.

When the great Sufi Master Abu Yazid al-Bestami, called Bayazid, was walking in the desert on the pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj, he walked past a well where many people were gathered around drawing up water. Around them circled a mongrel dog, panting with thirst.

Bayazid called out to the crowd, “Will someone not give a cup of water in exchange for the blessings of fifty years of pilgrimage and prayers?”

One person who knew Bayazid said, “I will gladly do so.” And so he gave a cup of water to the Sufi Master, and received in return a lifetime of blessings.

Bayazid put the cup on the ground so the dog could drink.

I was bought up on a farm and there were at least half a dozen occasions when we found so-and-so's dog (always pets, never sheepdogs) harassing sheep or just generally making a nuisance. If every dog owner took the money they spent on their dogs (and alcohol for that matter) and spent it on their kids this country would be a better place.

On a separate point I don't see any correlation between politics and pet ownership where I live anyway.

You people who are against dogs are absolute RETARDS, your damn fools, its the OWNERSSSS responsibility for control thier dog, to train it. If a dog has no boundries, it has NO sense of right and wrong ad will do as it pleases. Its humans that are responsible, withouth humans this world would be a better place,

This is by far the moat disgusting thing I've read in ages. It's not the dogs' fault if people are incapable of being responsible owners. Does the media coverage of violent kids mean we should abolish kids? I personally would choose the company of a few dogs in the park over youths at the bus shelter any day of the week.
Get a grip!

What about dogs for blind people?

What about dogs for preventing drug trafficking?

What about dogs for lonely people or people who have suffered trauma?

The list goes on....

For someone who likes to denounce prejudice at every opportunity, I haven't read such a bigoted and intolerant article in a long time.Your attack on dogs and their owners is quite frankly ridiculous.
I am a dog owner and I certainly did not recognise myself in the prejudiced portrait you make of them.I am very careful to control my dog and clean up after her. And I am a very social and considerate person.
.If someone wrote an article saying that, you would be the first to complain.
I can't say the same about countless dog haters who regularly show rudeness and total intolerance towards me and my dog.
OK so you don't like dogs. There was no need for such a pointless rant.Not your best, Medhi.

Finally one thing I agree with you on!
There's hope...

Yes, I personally don't like dogs. However, that is irrelevant.

I am extremely disappointed to see this article written in a serious publication like the New Statesman.

I read the New Statesman to read opinion on politics and opinion, not to find out whether journalists prefer cats to dogs, or elves to pixies.

I think this would have been better suited to a personal blog. Hardly serious journalism, is it?

I'd expect to see this kind of rant by Liz Jones in The Daily Mail. Waste of time.

that was a bit rubbish wasnt it? could do better.

Oh and NO I am not a conservative (like all dog owners are, says Medhi).
Joke apart, this is typical of the government, there is a problem with SOME dogs and SOME dog owners, so let's criminalise all of them by imposing ludicrous rules and regulations which will annoy everyone (cost, bother, fear of doing something illegal) and which will be of course TOTALLY ignored by those it is supposed to be targeting.As if the kind of guys who own those dogs are going to give a damn about getting the dogs chipped or getting an insurance.
This is so damn stupid. If there is a problem, everybody is then treated as a potential criminal in this country. The expense and the waste of time, the bureaucracy and the headaches due to this kind of totally unnecessary laws is turning this country into a surveillance and regulation nightmare.
So let's have some more and more sledgehammers to crack a nut. It seems to be the knee reaction answer to any problem.

Dogs are cool, think about it...

K9, Turner and Hooch, Beethoven, All dogs go to heaven

Medhi,

First of all, I’d like to mention that I thought you were absolutely brilliant on last Sunday’s edition of the BBC’s ‘The Big Questions’, specifically the debate “Is Islam Misunderstood ?” You made a considerable number of much-needed points and argued the matter superbly. The main panel was very good too.

On to your article about dogs…..

There are a number of issues which need to be clarified. Much of this was covered in a scientific BBC documentary called ‘The Secret Life of Dogs’ a few months ago, although it will also be familiar to anyone who has actually owned a dog themselves, especially one of the larger, more intelligent and ‘wolflike’ breeds like Alsatians/German Shepherds. (There’s also some information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_domestic_dog )

Dogs were deliberately domesticated by humans more than 10,000 years ago, with one of the specific purposes being their use as guards (along with hunting companions). Subsequent selective breeding by humans coupled with dogs living in very close proximity to us within settled human communities over the course of thousands of years all over the world has resulted in dogs becoming instinctively attached to, emotionally sensitive towards, and psychologically geared towards humans.

To give one example: when you point at an object, dogs are the only non-human species in the world which will understand exactly what you mean by that “fetch” or “go there” gesture without requiring any prior training. Even chimpanzees, the closest primates to humans, do not automatically understand or respond to this gesture. Furthermore, the continuous eye-contact dogs maintain with humans (especially people they’re close to) is because they’re closely watching our facial reactions & behaviour, a result of the fact that over the millennia they’ve become extraordinarily emotionally sensitive towards us. And the unique way that dogs sometimes bark, sounding as though they’re trying to “talk” (dog owners will understand what I’m referring to), isn’t a coincidence – the dog really is trying to mimick human speech patterns when trying to communicate with us this way. Again, this doesn’t occur with other animals.

Dogs aren’t “wild animals” who “just happen” to behave this way towards humans “randomly”. It’s all a specific result of thousands of years of selective breeding by humans and thousands of years of living very close to us, at the very least as guards and especially as “members of the extended family”. Dogs are automatically affectionate & friendly towards humans (unless they’ve been mistreated or are from one of the notorious “vicious” breeds) because we trigger that kind of instinctive emotional reaction in them.

It’s basically like dealing with an intelligent and friendly two-year-old kid who is highly emotionally attuned to us (albeit one who can’t communicate with us in our own language), and it has to be treated with the same level of kindness, understanding and sensitivity. This is an important point, because the persistent mistreatment of dogs, including hostile rejections of their instinctive affection, attachment and empathy towards us, really is like mentally abusing a small child.

In a nutshell, there is nothing “unnatural” about dogs living within human society or the emotional attachment dogs and humans may feel towards each other; on the contrary, it’s a result of the shared, closely-connected and interdependent history of our two species worldwide for more than 10,000 years. There is therefore an argument to be made for the fact that people who do not share this amicable attitude (especially if it literally involves extreme disgust towards dogs) are perhaps themselves displaying unnatural and/or abnormal behaviour as human beings, and this is something they may need to reflect on and address, including the specific origins & reasons for their reactions.

(^^This website seems to have replaced my username in my original comment for some reason, so I'm reposting it under my actual username "Jai")

Medhi,

First of all, I’d like to mention that I thought you were absolutely brilliant on last Sunday’s edition of the BBC’s ‘The Big Questions’, specifically the debate “Is Islam Misunderstood ?” You made a considerable number of much-needed points and argued the matter superbly. The main panel was very good too.

On to your article about dogs…..

There are a number of issues which need to be clarified. Much of this was covered in a scientific BBC documentary called ‘The Secret Life of Dogs’ a few months ago, although it will also be familiar to anyone who has actually owned a dog themselves, especially one of the larger, more intelligent and ‘wolflike’ breeds like Alsatians/German Shepherds. (There’s also some information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_the_domestic_dog )

Dogs were deliberately domesticated by humans more than 10,000 years ago, with one of the specific purposes being their use as guards (along with hunting companions). Subsequent selective breeding by humans coupled with dogs living in very close proximity to us within settled human communities over the course of thousands of years all over the world has resulted in dogs becoming instinctively attached to, emotionally sensitive towards, and psychologically geared towards humans.

To give one example: when you point at an object, dogs are the only non-human species in the world which will understand exactly what you mean by that “fetch” or “go there” gesture without requiring any prior training. Even chimpanzees, the closest primates to humans, do not automatically understand or respond to this gesture. Furthermore, the continuous eye-contact dogs maintain with humans (especially people they’re close to) is because they’re closely watching our facial reactions & behaviour, a result of the fact that over the millennia they’ve become extraordinarily emotionally sensitive towards us. And the unique way that dogs sometimes bark, sounding as though they’re trying to “talk” (dog owners will understand what I’m referring to), isn’t a coincidence – the dog really is trying to mimick human speech patterns when trying to communicate with us this way. Again, this doesn’t occur with other animals.

Dogs aren’t “wild animals” who “just happen” to behave this way towards humans “randomly”. It’s all a specific result of thousands of years of selective breeding by humans and thousands of years of living very close to us, at the very least as guards and especially as “members of the extended family”. Dogs are automatically affectionate & friendly towards humans (unless they’ve been mistreated or are from one of the notorious “vicious” breeds) because we trigger that kind of instinctive emotional reaction in them.

It’s basically like dealing with an intelligent and friendly two-year-old kid who is highly emotionally attuned to us (albeit one who can’t communicate with us in our own language), and it has to be treated with the same level of kindness, understanding and sensitivity. This is an important point, because the persistent mistreatment of dogs, including hostile rejections of their instinctive affection, attachment and empathy towards us, really is like mentally abusing a small child.

In a nutshell, there is nothing “unnatural” about dogs living within human society or the emotional attachment dogs and humans may feel towards each other; on the contrary, it’s a result of the shared, closely-connected and interdependent history of our two species worldwide for more than 10,000 years. There is therefore an argument to be made for the fact that people who do not share this amicable attitude (especially if it literally involves extreme disgust towards dogs) are perhaps themselves displaying unnatural and/or abnormal behaviour as human beings, and this is something they may need to reflect on and address, including the specific origins & reasons for their reactions.