Doggy December - Day 7 - Milly and the Moslems

No, that's not a new band, although it should be.

When we first arrived in Melbourne, I was aware that we had a very large Moslem population in our area due to the four large Housing Commission blocks that provided accommodation to a lot of refugee families and immigrants from the Horn of Africa.

What I wasn't aware of was how many of them appeared to be terrified of our dog Milly.

The high-school kids, all cool with their jangling mobile phones playing rap music, iPod earbuds permanently wedged in, punctuating every sentence with, 'Pharken right, man' and low-slung trousers would squeal and either jump into the gutter or cross the street to avoid our little orange dog.

One dropkick parent who thought he knew me, noticed the phenomenon and said, "I bet you feel safer around these African gangs now, right?"

My stare of contempt saw him lose his conspiratorial smile instantly and I've not bothered to seek him out for a chat at the main entrance of the school since.

Instead, after having a wee contretemps with the Schnauzer Woman, Milly and I decided to walk to the side gate and wait there instead for Sapphire after school. We both sit on the bluestone fence and greet any parents or kids who walk past us and soon realised that it was the key drop-off and pick-up point for many African families who lived on that side of the suburb.

For the first few months, the mothers would gather their younger ones against their skirts, clearly saying to them, "Keep away from that horrible dog", despite Milly's wagging tail and my friendly smile.

But when they walked out of the gate with their school-aged kids, a lot of them would look over at Milly and sometimes I'd hear them say in English, "Look at the cute dog," before being hustled away.

Later still, a few boys would shyly gather by Milly and ask me questions about her. Does she bite? Has she ever killed anyone? Would she scare off a burglar?

Then one day six year old Moaz sat beside me and asked different questions. Is she ever scared when there's lightning outside? What does she eat? Why does she lick all the time? And, "Can I pat her?"

Only one of their parents has tried to give Milly a pat, but these days my little orange dog has a crowd of young children around her, saying "Hello Milly" and stroking her coat, her ears, her chest and shyly touching the brush-like tip of her tail. The parents now smile at me, and greet me and one said, "Your dog. Is nice. My son talk about him all the time."

Who cares if they thought that Milly was a boy?

From Wikipedia:
The majority of both Sunni and Shi'a Muslim jurists consider dogs to be ritually unclean, though jurists from the Sunni Maliki school disagree. However, outside their ritual uncleanness, Islamic fatāwā, or rulings, enjoin that dogs be treated kindly or else be freed. Muhammad didn't like dogs according to Sunni tradition, and most practicing Muslims do not have dogs as pets. It is said that angels do not enter a house which contains a dog. Though dogs are not allowed for pets, they are allowed to be kept if used for work, such as guarding your house or farm, or when used for hunting purposes.
According to a generally unaccepted Sunni tradition attributed to Muhammad, black dogs are evil, or even devils, in animal form. This report reflects the pre-Islamic Arab mythology and the vast majority of Ulema (Muslim jurists) viewed it to be falsely attributed to Muhammad.
In a tradition found in the Sunni hadith book, al-Muwatta, Muhammad states that the company of dogs voids a portion of a Muslim’s good deeds.
The historian William Montgomery Watt states that Muhammad's kindness to animals was remarkable for the social context of his upbringing. He cites an instance of Muhammed posting sentries to ensure that a female dog with newborn puppies was not disturbed by his army traveling to Mecca in the year 630.