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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Asked to leave because our dog was offending the Muslim children?

215 replies

anchovies · 05/12/2011 15:08

We went to watch ds2 play football at a local sports centre yesterday. He was playing on the astroturf which was next to a field. We stood on the field to watch with the dog on a lead. The caretaker came over about 2 minutes later and asked us to leave, not because dogs aren't allowed, but because apparently our black dog was offending the Muslim children in the arts centre next door. We saw some parents dropping children off as we arrived but other than that we were nowhere near any Muslim children. Apparently complaints had been made because we had the dog on the site, we refused to leave at first but the caretaker got the site manager. I am planning on making a complaint but before I send it am I right in thinking this is bonkers? I understand that dogs are unclean but he was on a lead? Seems like a very strange policy, apparently the dog was "worse" because he is black?

OP posts:
hester · 05/12/2011 17:02

That's already been answered, Alouisee - Rotterdam Smile

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 05/12/2011 17:03

All King Charles Spaniels can move into Highgrove?

All Shih Tzu's back to ...?

Firawla · 05/12/2011 17:04

I'm muslim and scared of dogs and i do believe we are not allowed them in the house, other than a guard dog kept in a kennel as someone mentioned but I wouldnt try to ban dogs from public areas based on this and i think the care taker is a bit out of order as this kind of thing builds up anti muslim resentment. Being scared of them is not cos of being muslim its just something i cant help!! (as many ppl are like this, of all religions) I wouldnt let any dog come in my own house but in public i just have to think its my problem not the dog owners, and just avoid them as much as i can

GrimmaTheNome · 05/12/2011 17:04

There aren't many properly Communist locations left for Red Setters to flee to...

Avantia · 05/12/2011 17:07

My dog is definitely unclean - rolls in shit and her farts .... Shock

TinyArmy · 05/12/2011 17:07

All those Newfies back to Canada! Shedding half their weight twice a year! this is what DH says to keep me from getting one

HardCheese · 05/12/2011 17:08

I can't think of any other amusing places for dog breeds to be from, so will just say that I came across a strongly-entrenched consideration of dogs as unclean when I lived in the Middle East - I'd heard the 'dogs are sometimes jinn' thing often, also that an angel would not enter a house where there was a dog. And where dogs could be walked etc was a continual bone of contention between expats and (largely Muslim) locals. At one dreadful expat coffee morning, I remember a bunch of women discussing a Texan who had converted to Islam and given her dog to a shelter - the tone of voice being used suggested she was worse than Hitler.

I agree also with whoever said up the thread that in cultures that don't generally keep dogs as pets as a result of considering them unclean, people are often uneasy around dogs - but the OP's post does sound as if something got lost along the way.

warzonemummy · 05/12/2011 17:11

I live in a Muslim country and so many people have dogs and love dogs, when I take my dog to the office my colleagues fight over playing with it and I even gave a puppy to one Muslim colleague. The trouble in the UK is that stupid superstitions are respected as if they are part of people's religion. It is mainly the fault of leaders of the Muslim communities in the UK who choose not to educate their people on their religion or helping them differentiate the superstitions from beliefs.

EternalCynic · 05/12/2011 17:12

How funny! We live in a Muslim country (which last year had the world's most expensive Christmas tree!) and many of my Muslim friends have dogs. Mostly small breeds to be fair...

Me and my Muslim (born/raised in Middle East) husband just adopted a lovely abandoned GSD dog, and he's embarrassingly sweet with her...like, embarrassingly. "coochy woochy woo" and all that. Sigh. Before we got her he was very nervous around dogs, but only because he had never experienced having one as a pet and never really got close to one

So, yes, dogs are considered unclean in terms of you should wash after touching one's saliva before praying, but they are permitted for various reasons. DH usually quotes the hadith mentioned earlier about the man who used his shoe to give a thirsty dog water. Kindness to innocents tops anything in his book, and that of many others I know :)

SantasStrapon · 05/12/2011 17:13

LittleDog is going nowhere.

And I would like to add unassailable positions to the hit list, please.

EternalCynic · 05/12/2011 17:14

Oh and the Canaan back to the Middle East! Xmas Grin

GrimmaTheNome · 05/12/2011 17:21

Well, if we're being rigourous, apparently dogs first evolved in the Middle East .... so sending them back to whence they came may not be such a good solution.

Kladdkaka · 05/12/2011 17:24

These dogs can be sent back to the broom closet to live in a bucket.

complexnumber · 05/12/2011 17:24

I'm not a big dog fan (to put it mildly)

Indeed, I moved to the Middle East in the hope I would no longer be bothered by the irritating beasts. Wink

However, I have found that dogs are not at all uncommon in Oman. And not just in the 'Guard Dog' role. Indeed, my Jordanian next-neighbours have a dog they clearly love and cherish... (Not emotions I share.)

Alouisee · 05/12/2011 17:24

Actually what Warzonemummy said is something I've suspected for a long time. The superstition and the tradition is perpetuated here because it's how things were maybe 3 or 4 generations ago.

grovel · 05/12/2011 17:24

Pointers to Hartland
Paisley Terriers to Liberty and Co
Munsterlanders to Munster (that'll confuse the Hun)
Bassets to Wootton Bassett

tethersjinglebellend · 05/12/2011 17:26

I can't believe nobody got my shih tzu joke.

I'm wasted here, I really am.

Kladdkaka · 05/12/2011 17:26

No, no, no. Bassets have to go to the pick'n'mix department in Woolworths.

Alouisee · 05/12/2011 17:28

I did Tethers. I just wasn't going to give you the satisfaction of a LOl Xmas Wink

tethersjinglebellend · 05/12/2011 17:33

Gawd bless you, Alouise Wink

Get0rf · 05/12/2011 17:36

I laughed at the shih tzu joke tethers.

Not as funny as paisley terriers to Liberty and co, mind you Grin

tethersjinglebellend · 05/12/2011 17:44

See? Wasted.

Blu · 05/12/2011 18:10

I got the Shih Tzu joke but was away making the tea at the time.

grovel · 05/12/2011 18:13

Good answer, GetOrf

SantasStrapon · 05/12/2011 18:21

I got the Shiz Tsu joke. But only after I had sat there saying 'shiz tsu, shiz tsu' over and over, whilst DD2 did the Hmm face at me.

Take it as a mark of my respect.