Dogs in Jordan

On the subject of dogs the small country of Jordan is perplexed. Due to unison of religion and state the entire country is quite unsure of what to think about dogs. One one side the Quran says dogs are dirty, but on the other it says to treat all animals with care and respect; and as confusion usually does this bred a new emotion for Jordanians to feel about dogs. Pant-shitting terror.

Allow me to elaborate. Having any dog in Jordan (even stupid looking toy dogs) breeds much the same feeling from other civilians as having an enormous pitbull with an extra arm attached to his teeth usually would. They perceive all dogs with abject terror and their owners with the respect specially reserved for those who own weapons of mass destruction. This abject terror leads Jordanians to abuse dogs, which leads to the dogs biting and causing more even more terror than before.

One time my family and I were on a hike to what we called "Crazy Castle"; a castle built by an architect who didn't understand that regal does not come in brown swirls. It kind of looks like The Kremlin except without the good taste. It was my mother, father, brother, myself and our enormous German Shepherd Peppers.

Peppers was the most lovable dog in the history of dogdom. He slobbered, followed commands and was always happy, he never bit anyone. Anyway we broke into Crazy Castle through a hole in the fence and soon began checking out the ugly (and empty) interior. While commenting on how ugly it was an unfamiliar face poked out of the staircase and began shouting things along the lines of "get out", "trespassers" and "you're not supposed to be here".

The guard continued along this path until the dog bobbed along happily next to us, content with his little exploration. The guard paled, really went white and soon the only sound was the dogs' happy slobbering. The first words out of his mouth were:

. We decided that we would like to continue exploring so we went for "oh yes. on command."

The man then proceeded to respectfully tell us to please leave once done with our exploration. We explored a bit but bored with this place, we left through the much more convenient front door accompanied by a goodbye and "have a safe journey" from the guard.

Respect.