Kissing Your Dog: Yay Or Nay?

Do you let your dogs lay a big wet one on you? On the mouth?

I’m no germaphobe, but I’ve honestly never understood how people can do this – and enjoy it. Don’t get me wrong, I love on my dog like nobody’s business, but this kissing on the mouth stuff is just my line in the concrete.

A few dog behaviours to back me up as ‘research’:

1. Dogs scavenge for half-eaten, half-digested food. So that partially eaten sub on the sidewalk that’s been baking in the sun in all its mayonnaise and cold cut meaty goodness for 3 days? (I’ll pass.)

2. The dog that checked the kitty litter, trash can, and toilet bowl today? (No thanks.)

3. The dog that found animal feces (coyote? deer?) on a romp through the park earlier? (Not for this girl.)

4. Dogs lick themselves. (Do I ne-) 

While humans and dogs have different bacteria in their mouths, and while most viruses tend to be species-specific, as in we have ours and dogs have theirs, the mouth of a dog is still a pretty dirty place.

I suppose if you are going to kiss your dog, it’s best to just keep their foraging and rummaging to a minimum and stay up to date on vaccinations and preventative medications for fleas, ticks, worms etc. Hook and roundworm can actually get passed from dogs to humans.

They say a dog’s mouth is cleaner than a human’s. Well, I guess I’ll never know!

Where do you weigh in on the issue? Do you pucker up or give your dogs the cheek?

(images via, via)