DOG (כֶּ֫לֶב, H3978, κυνάριον, G3249, little dog; κύων, G3264, dog, all Eng. VSS). To the Israelites all dogs were utterly unclean. In Pal. and Egypt then, as in parts of the E today, the dog was a scavenger and did in larger towns what hyenas helped do in the villages and outside the walls; though classified as a carnivore it lived on refuse of all kinds and thus was a potential carrier of many diseases, either mechanically or as a vector. The incident in 2 Kings 9, where the dogs ate Jezebel after she had been thrown off the city wall and killed, was nothing unusual, for dead bodies were sometimes thrown to the dogs. Even contact with a corpse was ritually defiling (Lev 22:4) which was also a matter of practical hygiene, for after a death from some diseases the corpse can be a dangerous source of infection. This is another example of the Mosaic laws being ahead of their time. The fact that the dog was so highly esteemed in Egypt was another point against it; it was considered a desirable goal for the human soul after death and may have been associated with the deity Anubis. The Israelites, however, were exceptional in their attitude to the dog, which was the first animal to become domesticated and which, well before they left Egypt, had been developed into many useful forms, esp. in the hunting field. There is ample evidence that Stone Age man enlisted dogs as helpers in many parts of the world. Opinions differ slightly, but it is generally agreed on anatomical and behavioral grounds that the wolf is the ancestor of all domestic dogs, which are known collectively as Canis familiaris. The association began when man lived by hunting, but its development must be a matter for conjecture. From clearing up the remains of a kill and taking refuse from around the encampment there could come a closer cooperation leading to defending the area of their owners against other groups; thence to the assumption of proper guard duties, herding, assisting in the hunt, etc. Dog remains have been found in the earliest Jericho stratum, while in Egypt at least three breeds can be distinguished in predynastic material and a much wider range in the Old Kingdom. A type like the greyhound was firmly established prior to 3,000 b.c. Dogs were regarded just as highly in Mesopotamia, where a big hunting mastiff was in use in the earliest Babylonian period (3rd millennium b.c.) Development of different forms went on continuously, with certain types being fixed as they became useful, esp. in herding stock and in many forms of hunting.
Because of Israel’s attitude most dogs were semi-wild, like the pariahs that still haunt districts in India and other countries. Such dogs were descended from individuals that had “gone wild,” when they soon lost any breed characteristics and reverted to a general type. Several possible exceptions can be found in the Biblical record. In speaking of the dogs of his flock (Job 30:1) Job can be referring only to sheep dogs, but it is not certain that Job was an Israelite. Isaiah 56:10 is a fig. passage but the expression “dumb dogs, they cannot bark” certainly suggests that it was the custom to keep guard dogs; prob. sheep dogs, since the preceding v. mentions “beasts of the field come to devour.” Another is found in the incident of the Syrophoenician woman (Matt 15:26, 27), where the Gr. diminutive is used. This could refer to young dogs; more prob. to small pet dogs allowed to enter the house; but the owners were not Jewish. For the rest, the contexts, both lit. and fig., portray the dog as contemptible, whether as a filthy scavenger or “a dog that returns to its vomit” (Prov 26:11) which is one of several proverbs in which it features. To make the metaphor even stronger, David and others, always referring to themselves, spoke of a dead dog (2 Sam 9:8, etc.)
In Deuteronomy 23:18 dog seems to be a technical term, perhaps a euphemism, for a male temple prostitute, perhaps echoed by Revelation 22:15, listing those who are outside the Holy City. Just one or two mentions are neutral (e.g. Eccl 9:4), quoting the still current proverb that a live dog is better than a dead lion. Conditions have since changed radically and so allowed the dog to assume a role of assistant and companion in countries over much of the world today, even though they may still carry rabies, one of the most unpleasant diseases that can affect man.
Bibliography K. Z. Lorenz, Man Meets Dog (1954); F. E. Zeuner, A History of Domesticated Animals (1963), ch. 4.