Rebel the puppy only ever caused offence with his ill-timed calling cards and habit of stealing the window cleaner’s chamois. Now, the German shepherd is at the centre of a political-correctness row.

Rebel is the nearest thing Dundee has to a celebrity since Danny Wilson split up. His popular training “blog” details mishaps like bringing down the firearm squad’s computer system by chewing a cable.

It was no surprise when he appeared on a campaign postcard for a new helpline nestled inside a police hat. He is the fluffy face of the force, with lashings of the “awww” factor.

But not everyone found his floppiness irresistible. A Labour councillor called Mohammed Asif suggested the campaign would “not be welcomed by all communities because there was a dog on the cards”. He didn’t say Muslim communities — but that is what he meant.

The headlines were all about how “Muslims were outraged” by the picture and Tayside Police apologised.

Responses ranged from exasperation at “barking mad” political correctness to anger: “If Muslims don’t like dogs then they should go and live where there are none! We must stop bending over backwards to please these people, they certainly wouldn't do it for us — enough is enough!”

Inevitably, many asked why Pakistani shopkeepers, who profit from the sale of pornographic magazines, streaky bacon and alcohol, could then object to a postcard intended to inform the public. But so far as I can see, the only outraged Muslim was Mohammed Asif. His ill-judged intervention has done as much — perhaps more — to damage community relations than the hapless terrorists and their burning Jeep last year. They can attack our airports, but leave off our puppies!

There is no law against pet dogs in the Koran. The Hadith, or tradition, says they are unclean, you should not keep them in the house and must wash after contact with them. I have a few friends who share that view, but who are not religious in the least.

They are probably correct when it comes to hygiene. But they don’t avert their eyes from doggy pictures because they dislike canines, and neither do Muslims. The real issue here is the oversensitivity of the authorities. Their apology has whipped up more hatred than Rebel could if he’d nipped Mr Asif’s ankle.

The apology is symptomatic of a general jumpiness. Today we report an absurd recommendation by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland that sniffer dogs wear slippers when searching Muslim homes for drugs and explosives.

Who came up with this? Everybody knows you take your shoes off when entering a Muslim home so as not to bring in anything unclean. That would presumably apply to the dog’s muddy slippers. So shouldn’t the handlers put clean ones over their paws once they cross the threshold, just to be sure? It rather interferes with the element of surprise. By the same logic, handlers should take their boots off and waste more time.

And are we to ban female officers from raiding Muslim homes, because they are wearing police-issue trousers (sexy!) or simply because they are women?

It is all so unnecessary. Iran, not a country known to be slipshod in its adherence to Islamic doctrine, uses sniffer dogs from France to tackle drug-smuggling. Dog teams were flown to Pakistan from around the world to search for survivors trapped in rubble after the 2005 earthquake.

Official bodies desperate to show their politically correct credentials succeed only in sowing division with such silliness. In March, a CD-Rom version of the Three Little Pigs was rejected by the obscure Whitehall department that recommends educational technology in schools. “The use of pigs raises cultural issues,” it huffed and puffed.

During the last football World Cup the governor of a prison in England tried to ban her officers from wearing Cross of St George lapel badges, in case Muslims were reminded of the crusades. Last year a circular was sent to NHS employees in Glasgow urging them to ignore the tea trolley during Ramadan and to fast in support of Muslim colleagues. The passport service rejected a photo of a five-year-old girl in a sundress because her shoulders could be seen in the picture and, they said, it might be rejected in Muslim countries.

Everything is going to offend someone. Vegetarians, for example, must get quite repulsed when their neighbours have a cook-out. But the authorities don’t suggest a ban on barbecues. The NHS doesn’t send out circulars suggesting carnivores reach for the hummus in solidarity with their veggie colleagues. Although vegetarians may hold their views sincerely, and be able to support them with rational argument, since their beliefs are not religious, they get no special treatment. It’s spirituality that gets the authorities sweating. Even then, not all religions are treated equally.

Jews have lived in this country for hundreds of years without anyone suggesting we ban piggy-in-the-middle from the playground. We don’t vilify beef farmers for offending Hindus. One of the best-selling novelty toys last Christmas was a clockwork “nun-chucker”.

In Scotland, the Wee Frees have been mocked without mercy for decades, just because they want to preserve Sunday for prayer in the islands where they live. The practice in Stornoway of tying up children’s swings for the Sabbath ended long ago — but we never let them forget it. We ridicule Presbyterians with language we’d never apply to Muslims.

Wee Free ministers are called ayatollahs for trying to stop a few ferry sailings. But we tolerate real ayatollahs who want to decapitate all Danish people because someone produced a cartoon they didn’t like.

Let’s hope fear is not at the root of this selective sensitivity. The response to those Danish cartoons, the threats to Salman Rushdie, the murder of the Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh, suggest some Muslims will respond violently to any perceived offence. Fortunately they do not seem to live here.

Scottish community relations are good. If we want them to stay that way, let’s ignore individuals like Asif. The majority of his co-religionists can live perfectly well with pictures of piglets and puppies.

joan.mcalpine@sunday-times.co.uk

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