The hebrew word for dog is “celev,” which can also be pronounced “calev,” (as a heart). Nothing more fittingly describes this beautiful creature.

very entering pilpul; thank you gentlemen.
i learned a halacha that if one’s already made the bracha on hamotzi and then realizes that the dog’s not yet been fed, s/he should first feed the dog and then eat the bread. interesting…
Shabbat Shalom

By this logic, lions, bears, wolves, and the average gentile are also “the opposite of something Holy”.. The “average gentile” I can understand, but where do you get lions, bears and wolves from?

I don’t think that the Rama and the Maharshal are in disagreement. The Maharshal is simply defining the term kelev ra. In your case, where you are getting the dog as protection from intruders, it seems pretty straightforward that according to both the Shulchan Aruch and the Rama there is no problem with your dog (who would be classified as a kelev ra by the Maharshal) in your situation (where you have it for protection), provided that it is restrained during the day.

That being said, you don’t have to agree with Rashi, everyone is free to interpret the pasuk as the wish, I was merely pointing out that it appears that the rabbi (or you) have a strong bias here.

re. #5: The bias shows through here clearly, the term “Ra” can be translated as both bad, and evil, usually based on the context. By choosing to translate the word as “evil” you are showing a strong bias. once again, its your right, but i wanted to let you know it feels biased.
as an aside, we got our dog specifically b/c he barks when strangers knock on the door,as a security measure. We were told be the security officer of KaBat of a large Yishuv, that a lot of times intruders (Arabs) will be deterred from breaking into a house if they hear a dog. So I guess in this case we (I) hold like the Rama, not like the Maharshal.

re #6: this too, is a misleading argument. Not all dog owners get their dog because “a dog is man’s best friend” so it is irrelevant who said it or if it is a “Jewish value”. A person gets a dog for specific reasons, companionship, therapy, safety, not because of a Jewish value. If the dog is overall conducive to making their life better/happier/healthier, then it is a “jewish value” (as long as they own the dog, and take care of it, according to halacha).

re: the frum world’s reason for frowning upon dog ownership. I am not “claiming” anything, this is my own theory/opinion, based on personal experience.

Please understand, I have no problem with you having an “anti dog” opinion, I just don’t like arguments that feel stretched or contrived.

The best argument I have heard against owning a dog is simply: I
t is not easy to own a dog according to halacha (shabbat, spaying/neutering/ tzaar baalei chaim, etc.) why would you want that headache (and the chance of transgressong a halacha)?

BTW, thanks for the link to the article on the Halachic perspective on pets, I found it really useful.

His name is Calev, not Kelev. The vowels change the meaning of the word. His name does not mean dog, despite the fact that it has the same spelling.

I looked around a bit and was not able to find anyone who made this connection. Do you have a source for this claim?

Additionally, even if your claim that “ancient Jews recognized and valued dogs’ loyalty”, so what? The Torah still makes the connection of a dog to anti-holiness, the Gemara still makes its statements critical of dog ownership, and halacha still says what it does. Even if a dog can have a redeeming quality, if it can be classified as a kelev ra then it is to be treated as such.

Kalev ben Yefuneh’s very name means dog – that seems like a Jewish source to me. Most likely the reason for his name is that ancient Jews recognized and valued dogs’ loyalty.

1) The first four words of the passuk are of utmost importance (see #1 in the post above). Jews are suppossed to be Holy people. Therefore, we don’t eat meat that is neveila or treifa, as these are items that are diametrically opposed to the concept of being Holy. We want to therefore get rid of these items. So where do we throw them? To the dogs. True, you can say that a dog is the recommended disposal unit for treif meat (especially since dogs will probably not leave any behind). However, the dog is also labeled here as the an animal that thrives on the very substances that would distance a Jew from God.

2) See #5 in the post above for analysis of the term Kelev Ra. I never said that it applies to all dogs. However, even if it is limited to all dogs that bite or bark in a way that can be frightening to anyone, it is still pretty inclusive.

3) Do you have anything to back up your claim that the frum world frowning on dog ownership is only because of “bad experiences” with dogs, and is not at all founded on the words of Chazal? What do you think about #6 above?