takes the form of a black dog to guard Christian churches and their churchyards from sacrilege. Jewish law does not prohibit keeping dogs and other pets. Jewish law requires Jews to feed dogs (and other animals that they own) before themselves and make arrangements for feeding them before obtaining them. The view on dogs in Islam is mixed, with some schools of thought viewing it as unclean, although Khaled Abou El Fadl states that this view is based on "pre-Islamic Arab mythology" and "a tradition to be falsely attributed to the Prophet." Therefore, Sunni Malaki and Hanafi jurists permit the trade of and keeping of dogs as pets. Terminology Dog – the species (or subspecies) as a whole, also any male member of the same. Bitch – any female member of the species (or subspecies). Puppy or pup – a young member of the species (or subspecies) under 12 months old. Sire – the male parent of a litter. Dam – the female parent of a litter. Litter – all of the puppies resulting from a single whelping. Whelping – the act of a bitch giving birth. Whelps – puppies still dependent upon their dam. See also Cat–dog relationship Cynanthropy Dognapping Domesticated silver fox Lists of dogs List of individual dogs Dogs portal Mammals portal References Bibliography External links Biodiversity Heritage Library bibliography for Canis lupus familiaris Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) – World Canine Organisation Dogs in the Ancient World, an article on the history of dogs View the dog genome on Ensembl Genome of Canis lupus familiaris (version UU_Cfam_GSD_1.0/canFam4), via UCSC Genome Browser Data of the genome of Canis lupus familiaris, via NCBI Data of the genome assembly of Canis lupus familiaris (version UU_Cfam_GSD_1.0/canFam4), via NCBI Wolves Scavengers Cosmopolitan mammals Animal models Extant Late Pleistocene first appearances Mammals described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus