The transformation of the way of looking at dogs: from pity in the past to kindness in today's Iranian society

The aim of the current research was to explain the position of the dog in the past and modern society by referring to Persian literary texts, and the author tried to explain the reasons for this transformation while analyzing this position in the past and present society. After the arrival of Islam in Iran, a new culture, literature and ideology was formed, the teachings of Islam were also demonstrated in Persian literature, and as a result, the Iranian-Islamic society established some rules and conditions for keeping a najis (In Islamic law means ritually unclean) animal such as a dog, and only keeping a trained dog for hunting and guarding is permissible, provided that it is kept in an environment far from the place of residence; so that the helpless dog was given food or water only with a view to pity and with an eye to spiritual reward based on the observance of animal rights. Or from the sociological point of view, they were obliged to provide food for the dogs in return for the service they received from them. But in today's society, this behavior with the intention of pitying the dog has turned into a kind of boasting and people, by reducing their status, under the influence of various factors such as fashionism, adherence to western culture, lack of identity, spiritual weakness, etc., have not only taken the dog to their home, but have also petted it. Therefore, a problem called "dog walking" has emerged. The present research, based on the descriptive-analytical method, was to investigate the way of looking at dogs from a sociological point of view, according to Persian literary texts in the past and modern society.