What do I have in common with Nicola Peltz Beckham? She’s a wealthy, luscious, twenty-something model, actress, and heiress married to Brooklyn Beckham, and I’m…well, none of the above.
And yet, when I look at an Instagram post of Nicola kissing her Chihuahua Nala, I realize that we are actually kindred spirits. We are both completely unafraid of the approximately 600 types of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in the mouths of dogs.
Because I kiss my dogs too. In fact, I greet the morning every day with a ritual of kissing, biting, and licking ears, necks, and faces. No, I don’t lick my two dogs, of course, I frown and kiss the tops of their heads. But licking is how dogs show affection, and I appreciate their doggy kisses.
I love my hunting dogs. We live so closely together that I sometimes forget I have two legs. Those 20 minutes or so that I spend lazing around naked in bed catching up on the news of the day while spoon-feeding my Spanish hunting dogs is a small pleasure that I will never give up.
Peltz Beckham’s post, however, divided the internet. She described Nala’s death after her dog groomer “violently abused and/or intentionally abused” her (according to a lawsuit) and chose a photo of the tiny pup licking her owner’s perfectly pouty lips.
Kate Spicer Says She Kisses Her Dogs Every Day Because She Loves Her Dogs
She says she is not at all afraid of the approximately 600 species of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in dogs’ mouths
“Poor Nicola!” was my first reaction, but not everyone sent thoughts and prayers to Peltz Beckham in her grief. Some saw only the unhygienic potential in dog saliva. A firestorm ensued on social media.
So who’s right? People like my 10-year-old godchild’s grandparents, who are ready with hand sanitizer if she so much as pets my dogs? Or me, who is so harsh on this level of dog phobia?
I consulted a number of experts, all of whom are professors, to find out whether you should run away from a drooling dog, or run back to let him drool.
Professor Luca Guardabassi and Associate Professor Peter Damborg, from the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, are veterinary microbiologists specializing in bacterial diseases spread by pets. How bad are dogs? I ask them.
The good news is that our four-legged friends cannot be held responsible for the spread of the plague (lice and fleas) or malaria (mosquitoes).
But these two world-respected experts do stress that dogs can spread “parasites, viruses and fungi” (ringworm being the most common).
The problem here, of course, is the love my bunkmates have for licking their own behinds. And for rolling in the feces of other species.
Although I hose them down thoroughly after these horrible episodes, the fact remains that my dogs are animals. If you were to count the ways in which they rebel, you could go on and on.
Nicola Peltz Beckham kisses her chihuahua Nala in an Instagram post that divided the internet
Kate is ‘proud’ to be a ‘dog kisser’ despite experts saying dogs can spread ‘parasites, viruses and fungi’ (ringworm being the most common)
The ancient “back lick” is a common “route by which intestinal pathogens can spread, including E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter,” the professors continue.
One of the most dangerous is Leptospira, also known as Weil’s disease. Panicking, I look at the data and discover that on average, less than 40 cases of Leptospirosis are reported each year, and only four deaths since 1996. Panic over.
But when it comes to a kiss to a dog, they both decline. “It wouldn’t be a drama, but we’d probably wash our faces.”
Scientists are divided on the issue of co-sleeping. Guardabassi says: ‘Not in my bed, because I want a bed that is clean and not contaminated with dog poop and hair. At most I can accept a cat sleeping on it.’
Damborg says, “Yes, because the risk of transmission is probably low—and you have to weigh the benefit to the psychological well-being of being close to your pet against a small risk.” My brief moment of germ-phobia passed, and I remembered an inspiring, science-based talk about how our pets positively impact human health. It was by neuroscientist Tommy Wood, a popular speaker at “health optimization” conferences.
I reach out to Wood, an associate professor at the University of Washington Medical School. Does he kiss his two dogs (a pit bull-boxer mix and a boxer)? “They lick my face, and sometimes it gets near my mouth. … Unless you’re very young, very old, or immunocompromised, I would say the risk is minimal.”
He adds a word of caution. “Consider exposure to dog mouths the same as exposure to human mouths. Most people aren’t going to kiss other people they don’t know, and it’s best to take a similarly cautious approach with strange dogs.”
Then I come to the definitive defense of the odd dog lick or two. Something called the “old friends hypothesis” holds that humans evolved with animals and livestock in our immediate environment, and that not only can we tolerate dog licks, but we actually depend on doses of their microbes for our robust survival.
“All people alive today probably have ancestors from tribes that hunted with dogs,” says Jack Gilbert, director of the Microbiome and Metagenomics Center at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
“Our immune system has evolved and selected for the presence of dogs and their bacteria.” And that means: “Exposure to dogs and their bacteria is beneficial for the development of the immune system.”
Hooray! Our pets are a kind of vaccine against common pathogens! Or at least that’s the lesson I learn. I stand with Peltz Beckham. I’m a dog kisser and proud of it.