Question:
If a dog licks a vessel, it must be washed seven times. But Islam allows eating animals hunted by dogs. Why?
Answer:
The Qur’an clearly permits eating what trained hunting dogs catch (Surah 5:4). The ruling about washing vessels comes from Hadith.
Firstly, not every dog qualifies. It must be a trained hunting dog. Training means the dog does not eat the prey for itself but catches and brings it to the owner.
Secondly, even if the dog bites the animal, we do not eat it as it is. We skin it, remove fur and hide, and consume only the meat inside. The area touched by the mouth is removed along with the skin.
So the two rulings are not contradictory.
The vessel ruling concerns direct saliva contamination. In hunting, the meat is cleaned, skinned, and prepared. Hence, there is no contradiction.