Re: Is it sanitary to let a dog kiss you or a child?

Holly Jo,

I did a Google search on the string 'dog's mouth germs' and got lots of useful information. I strongly recommend that you do the same. For your convenience, however, I will summarize a few of the major points.

First of all, a dog's mouth probably has about the same number of germs as any mammal's mouth, including humans. They are, however, dog germs after all and much more likely to affect another dog than a human.

Second, a false notion that dog's mouths are cleaner than humans got started with some statistics in the medical literature that human bites are more likely to become infected than those of other mammals, including dogs. However, the early statistics were skewed in favor of humans because of late presentation (they didn't go to the doctors immediately) of closed fist injuries (damage done to a hand that punched someone in the mouth and hit the teeth). Recent studies of bites other than closed fist injuries indicate that the rate of infection from human bites is about the same as that from animal bites, or about 10%.

To my mind, a far more dangerous aspect of kissing dogs is the possibility that they might nip some part of the lips or face, doing serious injury. Dogs are, after all, dogs. They are wonderful, loving pets but they do not "think" like humans and their behavior can be unpredictable.

My advice is don't worry about the germs when kissing a dog on the mouth. I don't believe you are in any more danger of infection by germs than when you kiss a human on the mouth. In fact, there are very few diseases that can be transferred from dogs to humans. Humans are immune to most canine diseases and vice versa. Rabies is an exception, of course.

Do bear in mind, however, that dogs constantly lick their anuses and genitalia and will munch on dead animals in various states of decay if given the opportunity. Some are also fond of eating the excrement of other animals, including humans.