Short answer
No. Touching a dog does not break wudu in any school. In the Hanafi school a dog's body is not impure, but its saliva is, so if a dog licks you or your clothes, wash that spot three times. The Shafi'i and Hanbali schools treat the dog as impure and require washing seven times, once with soil.
Touching a dog does not break wudu. The dog's body and dry fur are not impure in the relied Hanafi view; its saliva is impure. A place licked by a dog is washed three times; washing a licked vessel seven times, once with earth, is recommended.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- The whole dog is heavily impure. Anything touched by its saliva, or by its wet body, is washed seven times, one of them with soil.
- Maliki
- The dog is pure, including its saliva. The sevenfold washing of a licked vessel is an act of worship, not removal of impurity.
- Hanbali
- The dog is impure. What it licks or touches while wet is washed seven times, one with soil.
Explanation
Wudu (ablution) is broken only by specific things, and touching an animal is not one of them. So stroking a dog, or one brushing past your leg, leaves your wudu as it was in every school.
The question that matters is impurity. The Prophet ﷺ said that a vessel a dog has licked is purified by washing it seven times, the first with earth. The schools read this differently. The Hanafi school holds that the saliva is impure but the body is not, and, following the practice reported from Abu Hurayrah himself, that three washes remove the impurity, with seven recommended. The Shafi'i and Hanbali schools take seven with soil as required.
In practice for a Hanafi:
- A dry dog touches you: nothing to wash.
- A wet dog shakes on you: no washing needed, unless its mouth or saliva touched you.
- A dog licks your hand or clothes: wash that spot three times before prayer.
- A dog drinks from a bowl: wash the bowl three times; seven, once with soil or a soil-based cleaner, is better.
Keeping a dog as a pet without need is a separate question; see dogs in Islam.
The evidence
Sahih Muslim 279
Sahih... طهور اناء احدكم اذا ولغ فيه الكلب ان يغسله سبع مرات اولاهن بالتراب ...
"The vessel of one of you is purified, when a dog has licked it, by washing it seven times, the first with earth."
The basis for treating dog saliva as impure; the schools differ on how many washes are required.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on water and on impurities. The dog is not impure in itself in the relied view; its saliva is.
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Taharat, chapter on leftover water (su'r). A vessel licked by a dog is washed three times.
- Mukhtasar Khalil with al-Sharh al-Kabir, Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on pure and impure things. The Maliki view that the dog is pure.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.