From pariahs to pets: Dogs find a home in Oman

Muscat - The two-storey building boasts two small swimming pools, a veterinary clinic, grooming salons, a dressing room and two dog trainers.

Long seen as unwanted fleabags wandering the streets in search of food, dogs in Oman have become pampered pets thanks to changing attitudes towards canine companions.
In a suburb of Muscat, a 35-room "hotel" with a difference stands as a testament to the turnaround in pooch fortunes in the Gulf sultanate.
The two-storey building boasts two small swimming pools, a veterinary clinic, grooming salons, a dressing room and two dog trainers.
Three of the bedrooms at the PetCare Veterinary Centre are reserved for canine couples only.
While it is by no means the first of its kind in the world, in Oman it is still something of a rarity.
Its creator is Adel Al Jamri, who has travelled the globe participating in dog-breeding contests as far afield as Asia and Europe since the 1990s.
Omanis and foreign residents alike bring their dogs to stay for between one night and three months, particularly when they go on holiday. Jamri said he was encouraged by "a change of mentality" in Oman that has seen a growing interest in dogs for companionship, hunting or to enter into competitions and animal shows.
"The dog is no longer an unclean animal," he said.
And their owners "entrust them to us, especially when they go on vacations".
Muslim tradition holds that dogs' saliva is unclean and could spread disease.
Islam "prohibits the ownership of dogs, apart from those used for guarding or hunting," said Sheikh Ahmed Khashba, the imam of a mosque in the Omani capital.
While breeding camels and horses is an ancient tradition in Oman and neighbouring countries, "raising dogs and cats is new for us in the sultanate", said Salem Al Ghanimi, a customer at a pet store in Muscat.
He puts it down to "the tendency of some people to imitate foreigners". However, many families still avoid keeping dogs because they believe it goes against the teachings of Islam, said Ghanimi.

• Oman