I love dogs and have had dogs as pets my entire life. I try really hard to be a responsible pet owner. I adopt my dogs as rescues. They have all of their shots and regularly take flea and tick medicine. They are fixed. They wear collars with id tags and licenses at all times. They are chipped. I always have two dogs because the dogs end up happier. My dogs receive better medical care than a large percentage of humans on this earth (which is a really sad statement about the distribution of medical care in our society).

I am supposed to rest on Shabbat. What about my dogs? Do they get to rest on Shabbat? (In truth, I doubt they want to rest since much of their time is spent resting. I have taken the imperative to hunt away from them and, since they are urban dogs, I can’t really let them roam free). Can I take my dogs for a walk on Shabbat? Today as we start Chapter Five of Tractate Shabbat we get some answers to these questions.

Before starting Chapter Five and getting to topics of interest to my dogs, we need to finish Chapter Four, which primarily relates to the laws of insulating food on Shabbat. We begin today with a Mishnah that clarifies that we can insulate materials to keep them cold. We have talked all through Chapter Four about insulating in ways that the Rabbis mistakenly believed added heat. We have not discussed putting a six pack in my Yeti. Today, we learn that is ok. We even learn that we can add snow or ice to my Yeti to keep my six pack cool.

Rebbi (Rabbi Yehudah HaNassi, the redactor of the Mishnah) originally held that we could not insulate items to keep them cold. Rebbi was the head of the Great Assembly. HaNassi means the Prince. Nevertheless, when Rebbi heard that Rabbi Yose had previously allowed insulating items to keep them cold, Rebbi deferred to his elder (although not quite as an exalted position). Reebi’s behavior is certainly different than the quarrel between Rabbi Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua we read about way back in Berakhot 27.

After we complete Chapter Four, we turn to the laws regarding what animals may wear in public on Shabbat. Chapter Five is again a very short chapter going only through Shabbat 56. The obligation for animals to rest on Shabbat is found in several places in the Torah (see, e.g. Deuteronomy 5:14 (“but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the stranger in your settlements, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do.”) Much like humans, animals cannot move from the public to the private domain, or vice versa, while carrying something, but animals can move between domains while wearing apparel or items required for a human to control the animal. We need to discuss how we distinguish between animal apparel or control versus burdens. Surprisingly, the animal’s point of view matters in this discussion. What we need to restrain one animal may be a burden to another animal.

We start Chapter Five with a Mishnah that lists the various types of items that various animals can wear on Shabbat because they are used to control that animal. Importantly, the Mishnah lists animals (like camel) and the device that is permissive for that species (a camel can go out with a halter). We also learn that any animal that normally wears a collar can go out with a collar and may be pulled by the collar (looking good for a walk with my dogs on Shabbat so far). The Mishnah ends with a totally off-topic statement about purifying animal collars (which are susceptible to ritual impurity) while the animal is wearing the collar.

Since the Mishnah lists one permissible item for each individual animal, the Gemara starts by asking if an animal can wear the item permissible to another animal. For instance, we learn that camels can wear halters. Female dromedaries (which are apparently much harder to control than camels) can have a nose ring. Can a Female dromedary have a halter? Everyone agrees this would not be permissible. The halter would be completely ineffectual in controlling the Female dromedary, so it would only be a burden to our Female Dromedary. Can the camel have a nose ring? This case is different, because the nose ring is overkill in terms of camel control – it’s effective, but too much. Ultimately, we decide that the nose ring is permissible for the camel because it is an effective means of control.

We don’t actually discuss taking a dog out on Shabbat with a lead. We do discuss taking a cat on a walk on a lead. Although to 21st Century pet owners, the notion of walking a cat on a lead seems preposterous, apparently cats were better behaved in Talmudic times. We learn that it is permissible to walk a cat on a lead on Shabbat, even if the lead is considered an excessive means of control of the cat. I assume therefore that taking a Shabbat walk with my dog, assuming I obey all the other Shabbat prohibitions, would be a fine way to enjoy the day.