Dogs?

Was reading this article in today's well...Today papers under the heading "What's proper, what's not...". The article was about how Iran is getting all strict on people with radical dressing such as tighter clothing, outlandish hairstyles etc and get this, "people walking per dogs - an activity long denounced as un-Isamic by the religious rulers". I'm not sure about others but I was rather appalled by that statement. Dogs in Iran? Are dogs even allowed on the streets of Iran and their neighbours aside from the one with the Dead Sea? Hell, are there even dogs in the middle east? Alright I know I haven't been blogging. Let me just make some major changes to it before I start getting regular again.