Single men with dogs know a walk in the park with a pet can attract a woman's attention. Saudi Arabia's Islamic religious police want to make sure the technique doesn't catch on in their country.

The solution: Ban selling dogs and cats as pets, as well as walking them in public.

The prohibition went into effect Wednesday in the capital, Riyadh, and authorities in the city say they will strictly enforce it — unlike earlier bans in the cities of Mecca and Jiddah, which have been ignored and failed to stop pet sales.

Violators found outside with their pets will have their beloved poodles and other furry companions confiscated by agents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the official name of the religious police, given the task of enforcing Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic code.

The commission's general manager, Othman al-Othman, said the ban was ordered because of what he called "the rising of phenomenon of men using cats and dogs to make passes at women and pester families" as well as "violating proper behaviour in public squares and malls."

"If a man is caught with a pet, the pet will be immediately confiscated and the man will be forced to sign a document pledging not to repeat the act," al-Othman told the Al-Hayat newspaper. "If he does, he will be referred to authorities."

The ban does not address women.

The Saudi-owned Al-Hayat newspaper announced the ban in its Wednesday edition, saying it was ordered by the acting governor of Riyadh province, Prince Sattam, based on an edict from the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars and several religious police reports of pet owners harassing women and families.

Commission authorities often do not formally announce to the public new rules that they intend to implement. Officials from the commission and Riyadh city government could not be reached for comment Thursday, which is a weekend day in Saudi Arabia. The English-language Arab News reported the ban on Thursday.

On Thursday, the prohibition did not appear to be having any effect in Riyadh. It's extremely rare to see anyone in the capital walking a dog anyway — much less carrying a cat in public — despite the authorities' claims of flirtatious young men luring girls with their pets in malls.

Salesmen at a couple of Riyadh pet stores said Thursday they did not receive any orders from the commission to stop selling pets. Cats and dogs were still on display.

"I didn't hear of the ban," said Yasser al-Abdullah, a 28-year-old Saudi nurse, who was at a pet store with his 3-month-old collie, Joe.

Al-Abdullah, who also owns an 8-month-old Labrador retriever, said a couple of Western friends walking dogs had been told to get off the streets by the religious police.

"I won't allow the commission to take my dogs from me," he said.

Cellphone cameras banned in 2004

The religious police prowl streets and malls throughout the kingdom, ensuring unmarried men and women do not mix, confronting women they feel are not properly covered or urging men to go to prayers.

They also often make attempts to plug the few holes in the strict gender segregation that innovations bring. In 2004, for example, they tried to ban cameras on cellphones, fearing that men and women would exchange pictures of each other — though the prohibition was quickly revoked.

There was no word on whether commission authorities intend to expand the dog and cat ban beyond the capital.

The prohibition may be an attempt to curb pet ownership, which conservative Saudis view as a sign of corrupting Western influence, like the fast food, shorts, jeans and pop music that have become more common in the kingdom.

Although it has never been common to own pets in the Arab world, it's becoming increasingly fashionable among the upper class in Saudi Arabia and other countries, such as Egypt.

In Islamic tradition, dogs are shunned as unclean and dangerous, though they are kept for hunting and guarding. In large cities around the Middle East, stray dogs are considered pests.

There's no similar disdain for cats in Islamic tradition.

One of the Prophet Muhammad's closest companions was given the name Abu Huraira, Arabic for "the father of the kitten," because he always carried a kitten with him, and a number of traditional stories of the Prophet show Muhammad encouraging people to treat cats well.