Why You shouldn’t let your dog lick you…
Why not! Because it’s gross, dangerous and can make you very sick!
The types of bacteria that are found in a dog’s mouth are very different to that from the ones in a human’s mouth. We both have very different mouth flora to keep things balanced according to the types of foods we eat and the potentially harmful pathogens that we are exposed to.
FACT: A dog’s mouth is not cleaner than a human
Dogs don’t brush their teeth! Dogs lick their balls, their penis, their vaginas, their bums, they lick other dogs’ bums, and they eat all sorts of faecal matter, garbage and dead things! Delightful!
If that’s not enough to turn you off the next slobbery kiss then I don’t know what will!
We all carry bacteria in our saliva, it is part of how we keep healthy we need bacteria in our mouths but not all bacteria are safe. For example, e-coli is often present in dogs’ saliva which isn’t present in humans’ saliva, e-coli is a bacteria found in faeces.
Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Capnocytophaga Canimorsus are all different prokaryotic microorganisms often found in dogs’ and cats’ mouths which do not affect them but can affect humans, especially those who are immunocompromised.
Dogs eat shit, it is true whether you think your dog does or not it more than likely does! Whether it is other dogs’ poop, fox poop, horse poop, bird poop, rabbit, cat ohhh yes dogs love a few feline faeces, puppy poop (it’s a natural thing for a bitch to eat their puppies poo to keep them clean) even human poop! Given the chance, they are quite likely to either go and give it a sniff, take a sneaky lick or lap it up entirely. A lot of the time you wouldn’t even realise it.
It’s not only bacteria that your dog has in its saliva but parasites and other pathogens too. Parasites that can be passed onto humans like hookworm, roundworms, tapeworm, and whipworm. Protozoa called Giardia which if you become infected with giardia can make you very sick and although treatable can be a long and arduous process to rid the little blighters from your body!
Toxocariasis is an infection between animals and humans caused by the roundworm parasite. If larvae infection is transmitted then it can cause sight loss, coughing, lethargy, abdominal pain, and wheezing. It is important to immediately consult your doctor should you be experiencing any of the above.
Raw Food Diet. If you feed your dog a raw food diet then there are much higher chances of your dog having salmonella, campylobacter and other potentially harmful pathogens.
It is important to remember that not everyone likes being licked by dogs! Just because you love the wet lapping of your dog’s tongue on your skin, it is important to be aware that many other people do not! Often you see babies being licked as they are at the same height as most dogs and easy licking picking!
Licking is a sign of affection but there are other ways that dogs can show how much they love you other than the lick!
A quick question… Do you lick your dog? Errr I am guessing the answer is more than likely a No. Therefore surely this shows that it is a one-way affection train purely to make you feel loved, needed, wanted etc…!
It’s a myth that a dog’s saliva has antibacterial properties and will help a human cut to heal! I was speaking to a nurse and she relayed an account of a patient who she had been treating who developed Sepsis after letting his dog lick a small cut on his hand. Sadly this man who albeit had a very positive attitude lost his nose, some fingers, his penis and other parts of his body, all for letting a dog lick his wound! So please don’t do it it’s not worth the risk no matter how small.
I’m sure you wouldn’t kiss another human if you saw them licking their balls, or eating faecal matter so why do we let our dogs lick our faces?!
There are so many other ways that a dog can show you affection, that is not a lick and keeps you safe! You can easily train your dog to stop licking you as a display of affection! So next time your dog goes to give you a big slobbery kiss remember the above and I can assure you, you won’t be enabling this behaviour for very long!
