The Zoroastrian funeral ritual involving a dog is called Sagdid.
The name Sagdid comes from Middle Persian elements meaning “dog sight” or “the glance of the dog.” During the rite, a dog is brought to look at the body of a recently deceased person, traditionally as soon as possible after death. The dog’s gaze is believed to help drive away spiritual pollution and the destructive force associated with death.
Sagdid is rooted in Zoroastrian ideas about purity. Because fire, earth, and water are sacred creations, traditional Zoroastrian funerary customs sought to prevent a corpse from polluting them. This concern contributed to the use of exposure structures later known as Towers of Silence, where carrion-eating birds could remove the flesh without burial or cremation.
Older descriptions often mention a “four-eyed” dog, meaning a dog with two distinctive spots above its eyes; if such an animal was unavailable, another dog could be used. The rite should not be confused with cremation, burial, or Hindu Antyesti. Those are funerary practices or concepts from other traditions, whereas Sagdid specifically names the dog’s ritual viewing of the corpse.