stylistic:tone
Cultural importance

Artworks have depicted dogs as symbols of guidance, protection, loyalty, fidelity, faithfulness, alertness, and love. In ancient Mesopotamia, from the Old Babylonian period until the Neo-Babylonian period, dogs were the symbol of Ninisina, the goddess of healing and medicine, and her worshippers frequently dedicated small models of seated dogs to her. In the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, dogs served as emblems of magical protection. In China, Korea, and Japan, dogs are viewed as kind protectors.

In mythology, dogs often appear as pets or as watchdogs. Stories of dogs guarding the gates of the underworld recur throughout Indo-European mythologies and may originate from Proto-Indo-European traditions. In Greek mythology, Cerberus is a three-headed, dragon -tailed watchdog who guards the gates of Hades. Dogs also feature in association with the Greek goddess Hecate. In Norse mythology, a dog called Garmr guards Hel, a realm of the dead. In Persian mythology, two four-eyed dogs guard the Chinvat Bridge. In Welsh mythology, Cŵn Annwn guards Annwn. In Hindu mythology, Yama, the god of death, owns two watchdogs named Shyama and Sharvara, which each have four eyes—they are said to watch over the gates of Naraka. A black dog is considered to be the vahana (vehicle) of Bhairava (an incarnation of Shiva).

In Christianity, dogs represent faithfulness. Within the Roman Catholic denomination specifically, the iconography of Saint Dominic includes a dog, after the saint's mother dreamt of a dog springing from her womb and became pregnant shortly after that. As such, the Dominican Order (Ecclesiastical Latin: Domini canis) means "dog of the Lord" or "hound of the Lord". In Christian folklore, a church grim often 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, but requires Jews to feed dogs (and other animals that they own) before themselves and to make arrangements for feeding them before obtaining them. The view on dogs in Islam is mixed, with some schools of thought viewing them as unclean, although Khaled Abou El Fadl states that this view is based on "pre-Islamic Arab mythology" and "a tradition falsely attributed to the Prophet". The Sunni Maliki school jurists disagree with the idea that dogs are unclean.