Iran growls over dog-walking ban
TEHRAN, Iran — Wherever Asal Bahrierad goes, her Shih Tzu terrier, Teddy, follows. The 31-year-old Iranian even slept in her car with Teddy for three nights, she said, when visiting with her mother, who does not like dogs.
Impressed by her daughter’s determination to be with Teddy, Bahrierad’s mother finally relented and allowed her back in the house, with her beloved dog.
“Now both my mom and I can’t imagine living without Teddy,” Bahrierad said. “No one, not even the police can take him away from me.”
That last statement is a matter of debate these days in Tehran.
This week Teddy and all other dogs in Iran were front and center in Iran’s nearly 40-year long battle against Western influences when Tehran’s police chief, Brig. Gen. Hossein Rahimi, announced that the judiciary had banned walking dogs in public.
For good measure, the court also banned having dogs in cars.
In Islam, dogs are considered “najes,” or impure. Guard dogs are tolerated, but keeping them as pets is a step too far. The problem is that many Iranians think otherwise.
Dogs are everywhere in Tehran: German shepherds on leashes in alleyways; Siberian huskies frolicking in the winter snow; and Chihuahuas panting through the open windows of cars, not to speak of the many former street dogs adopted by animal lovers.
Every so often Iranian officials take note of the rising popularity and call for measures to prevent Iranians from normalizing the notion that a dog is man’s best friend.
Dogs “create fear and anxiety” when they are seen in public, Rahimi said in an appearance at the Young Journalist Club, part of Iranian state television. “The police will take measures against the owners.”
He did not say exactly what measures.
Near the Imam Khomeini International Airport on Thursday, Hoda Sedghi Shamir, 37, was busy feeding the 23 dogs she is sheltering. Some are paralyzed, others are blind, most are strays that she found roaming around.
“I never had children, so these are my kids,” she said.
Shamir said she has helped dogs hurt hit by stones or shot by air rifles. “I spend around $600 a month on all of them, for their food, vaccinations and training sessions,” she said.
As for the ban on dog walking, Shamir shrugged and said this, too, will pass. “For a while we have to lay low, but then the rule will again be forgotten,” she said.