Is keeping a dog permissible for guarding houses?
Chapter on Selling the Musarrah (Animal with milk retained in udder)
Al-Mughni
Book of Sales
Primary text
Keeping a dog solely for guarding houses is not permissible based on the explicit prohibition mentioned in the hadith. The ruling that prohibits deduction of reward applies here.
Supporting text
It is arguable that keeping a dog for house protection is permissible, which is a view held by some scholars of the Shafi'i school. They argue that protection of a house is analogous to the three permitted categories and thus should be allowed by analogy. However, the former opinion is stronger because analogizing other categories to the permitted three would permit what the hadith text explicitly forbids from being permissible.