Why does it seem Egyptians/Arabs don't like dogs , and does anyone have any experience with how your SO adapted to your dog once they came.

[~~~water~~~ 0]

My dog sleeps on the floor by my bed. MySO is not to happy about this and wants her out of the room when he comes. I am thinking about starting it now , and having her sleep in the wash room so she dosen't associate the change with him on that fateful day he does arrive. Any ideas or experiences?

[Donna A 4]

my husband was scared to death of dogs when he came. for our second anniversary he let me get a puppy in which he has falllen in love with. his rule tho is no dog in the bedroom cuz he dont want the hair all over his clothes. so what does he do???? sleeps with her on the couch cuz he feels guilty that she is downstairs all alone.

[~~~water~~~ 0]

my husband was scared to death of dogs when he came. for our second anniversary he let me get a puppy in which he has falllen in love with. his rule tho is no dog in the bedroom cuz he dont want the hair all over his clothes. so what does he do???? sleeps with her on the couch cuz he feels guilty that she is downstairs all alone.

lol that is reassuring

[Cheryl & Medo 3]

My husband has a German Sheperd and we are making plans for him to travel to the U.S. with him. (K-9 visa )

I also have a 3 pound yorkie that sleeps with me. Medo says that she cant be in bed with us. I think he will loose this baddle. But my husband loves dogs he wants to open a dog kenel when he gets here.

[anxious 0]

Alot of Arabs/ Muslims don't like dogs because of many hadiths that state

they are unclean and u have to go thru a little cleansing ritual to begin making prayer

after u touch them.

Although I am Muslim, I love dogs, but never had any. My husband had some outdoor dogs back

home. I really would like one..Im tired of cats .

[sereia 0]

my fiance loves all animals. my kitty and him have already formed a beautiful relationship and he hopes to get a dog someday. we spotted a rat terrier at a pet shop he wanted but thank god it was $1200 (i don't think we're ready for a doggie yet!)

[doodlebug 3]

I saw a few dogs in Egypt and although I can't say that's the norm since I don't have much experience over there, the ones I saw were anorexic and ugly and very dirty. That is what my husband thinks of when he thinks of a dog. Plus the hadith thing. He said they are very dirty and he will not be able to pray with a dog in the house. He's not too fond with cats either but he deals with them because there is a story of how the Prophet loved cats.

[ya falaha! 0]

My husband LOVES dogs but wouldn't want any sleeping in our bed. I'm not a dog person but nothing to do with religion.

[dollface41601 0]

my husband loves dogs, so does his brother, before our unfortunate happening last week....Max woudl sleep in all our beds, eat dinner with us, swim in the pool with us..kisses and hugs. the whole bit..

[allousa 1]

My hubby likes dogs, but feels that they belong outside. Fortunately, I have a mudroom/laundry room that I can let them in for the night and when it's really cold. But when he was here in the States, he would feed them for me if I was working or something and he would actually bring them bones from the halal market.

The two dogs that I have are very big and I don't let them around my son. They are friendly, but they would definitely knock him down, but not mean to.

I think this is an issue that should be discussed prior to getting married. We had some knock down/drag out fights over the dogs before we got married. If your dogs sleeps in the bed with you...this could really be an issue.

My hubby likes dogs, but feels that they belong outside. Fortunately, I have a mudroom/laundry room that I can let them in for the night and when it's really cold. But when he was here in the States, he would feed them for me if I was working or something and he would actually bring them bones from the halal market.

The two dogs that I have are very big and I don't let them around my son. They are friendly, but they would definitely knock him down, but not mean to.

I think this is an issue that should be discussed prior to getting married. We had some knock down/drag out fights over the dogs before we got married. If your dogs sleeps in the bed with you...this could really be an issue.

[Nasturtium 500]

I've spoken to several Arabs from varying countries who said it's not a dog thing or a cat thing-- but that keeping animals in teh house is not nearly as common as it is here, and not part of the culture really... Although you do see people who keep dogs or cats or birds, etc. I know Arabs who were terrified of animals in general who got over it and who own animals today. So I'm guessing it's sort of a fear of the unknown basically. Also there is the whole dogs are unclean thing with the whole cleaning ritual in Islam. With all the poeple I worked with, there did seem to be an abolute fear of animals and nature ingrained, and they did theiur best to instill it in you also.. but there were mostly small villages and villagers, and it could be specific to where I was in Northern Jordan...

There are also plpenty of people who feel animals are just fine, where they are-- outside. So that is another attitude. That's my husband's. He prefers to look at them outside from safely inside. Since he's been living with the cats, he's learned to tolerate them, although he complains about a lot of imaginary things and I have caught him petting them and talking to them when he thought I was in another room. So I think he secretly likes them now but doesn't want that image out there.

I wouldn't generalize more about it other than to say the pet culture isn't as big of a deal as it is here. i mean here we have giant stores just for pets. You don't tend to see that in the ME really, although I am sure there are some somewhere.

[allousa 1]

I think you are right on that. My husband really grew to like my dogs...just not inside. We just had to find a happy medium for both of us.

I know the few times that I have been to Morocco, I have only seen two dogs that were actually pets. The one was on a leash and we were downtown Casa. All the others are pitiful strays.

I wanted to feed them all, but my husband said people just didn't do that. He did let me put food out for one stray that was in the neighborhood that was injured pretty badly. I had to put it in the gutter though. As we turned around to go back inside the courtyard, the neighbor (really crabby woman) came out and kicked the food and started yelling at us. I stopped and Hicham made me go back inside. My MIL had been sitting on the porch and started cussing the neighbor.

My FIL does keep scraps and takes them for the cats that live around some of their businesses though, so his dad understood why I felt so sorry for them.

[Nasturtium 500]

Yeah, and in the end it comes down to personal preference. Some people never like animals, even if they grow up in a pet-friendly environment. I don't like dogs, I think they are too much work, too hyper, and smell. But that's just me. AT the same time I don't give a flip who owns them, and I would NEVER hurt one! I can think puppies are cute, and I do learn to like the dogs of friends. But this is a personal preference issue. I almost got a lab once, it was dumped in my yard but I did find a no-kill to take her in. I would have done everything I needed to do for her, and probably learned to love her a whole lot-- but a dog is not something I'm just going to pick on my own, you know? Cats though, love them! I always get really snuggly kitties, especially boys who love to play tag and chase you around the house, play fetch, and whatnot. And I love that if I need to work a double, I don't have to worry about the animals going to the bathroom.

[Caladan 19]

On Islam and dogs, by a professor at UCLA: http://www.scholarofthehouse.org/tloofesfaond.html. Interesting, nuanced reading.

My (secular) Persian friends don't like dogs much, and it seems to be more a cultural thing, as Americans are dog-crazy and they're still dirty work animals to them. No doubt religion plays a part, but I'm not sure it's only an Islam thing.

[Nasturtium 500]

On Islam and dogs, by a professor at UCLA: http://www.scholarofthehouse.org/tloofesfaond.html. Interesting, nuanced reading.

My (secular) Persian friends don't like dogs much, and it seems to be more a cultural thing, as Americans are dog-crazy and they're still dirty work animals to them. No doubt religion plays a part, but I'm not sure it's only an Islam thing.

It's definately not an Islam-only thing-- I personally think it has a 100% cultural backing. It seems to be a ubiquitous idea in all religious groups of the area.