What do I have in common with Nicola Peltz Beckham? She is a rich, luscious, twenty-something model, actress and heiress, married to Brooklyn Beckham, and I’m…well, none of the above.
And yet looking at an Instagram post of Nicola kissing her Chihuahua Nala, I realise that in fact we are soul sisters, both of us completely unafraid of the 600 or so species of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in dogs’ mouths.
For I too kiss my dogs. In fact every day, I greet the morning with a ritualistic kissing, biting and licking of ears, necks and faces. No, I don’t lick my two dogs, obviously, I pucker up and kiss the top of their heads. But licking is how dogs show affection and I appreciate their canine kisses.
I adore my hounds. We co-exist so tightly I forget sometimes I have two legs. Those 20 minutes or so I spend lolling around naked in bed catching up on the day’s news while spooning my Spanish hunting dogs is a small joy I’ll never give up.
Peltz Beckham’s post divided the internet, however. Describing Nala’s death after her dog groomer ‘violently mistreated and/or intentionally abused’ her (according to a lawsuit), she chose a picture of the little pup licking her owner’s perfect pout.
Kate Spicer says she kisses her dogs every day because she adores her houndsÂ
She says she is completely unafraid of the 600 or so species of bacteria and other microorganisms that live in dogs’ mouths
‘Poor Nicola!’ was my immediate reaction, but not everyone was sending thoughts and prayers to Peltz Beckham in her grief. Some could see only the unsanitary potential in canine saliva. A social media storm ensued.
So who is right? People like my ten-year-old godchild’s grandparents, who stand ready with the hand gel should she so much as stroke my hounds? Or me, who judges this level of phobia around dogs harshly?
I consulted a number of experts, all professors, to see whether you should run from a slobbering dog or run to slobber it back.
Professor Luca Guardabassi and Associate Professor Peter Damborg, of the University of Copenhagen Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, are veterinary microbiologists whose expertise is bacterial diseases spread by household pets. How bad are dogs? I ask them.
The good news is, our canine pals can’t be blamed for spreading the bubonic plague (that’s lice and fleas) or malaria (mosquitoes).
But these two globally respected experts do make the point that dogs can spread ‘parasites, viruses and fungi’ (ringworm being the most common).
The problem here, of course, is the love my sleeping companions have for licking their own rear ends. And for rolling in the excrement of other species.Â
While I give them a thorough hosing down after these horrific episodes, the fact remains my dogs are animals. When you start to count the ways in which they are revolting, you can keep going for quite some time.
Nicola Peltz Beckham kisses her Chihuahua Nala in an Instagram post which divided the internet
Kate is ‘proud’ to be a ‘dog kisser’ despite experts saying that dogs can spread ‘parasites, viruses and fungi’ (ringworm being the most common)
The old backside lick is a common ‘pathway by which enteric 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. Briefly panicked, I take a look at the data and discover an average of fewer than 40 cases of Leptospirosis are reported each year, and only four deaths since 1996. Panic over.
Even so, when it comes to kissing a dog, they both decline. ‘It would not be a drama but we would probably wash our face.’
On sleeping together the scientists are divided. Guardabassi says: ‘Not in my bed because I like a bed clean and uncontaminated by dog faeces and hair. At most I can accept a cat sleeping on it.’
Damborg says: ‘Yes, because the risk of transmission is likely low – and you have to weigh the benefit to psychological wellbeing of being close to your pet against a small risk.’ My brief moment of germophobia passed, I remembered an inspiring, science-backed talk about how our pet dogs positively impact human health. It was by neuroscientist Tommy Wood, a popular speaker at ‘health optimisation’ conferences.
I contact Wood, associate professor at the University of Washington Medical School. Does he kiss his two dogs, (pitbull-boxer mix and a boxer)? ‘They lick my face and sometimes that goes near my mouth… Unless you are very young, very old, or immunocompromised, I would argue there is minimal risk.’
He adds a note of caution. ‘Consider exposure to dogs’ mouths as you would exposure to human mouths. Most people don’t go around randomly kissing other humans they don’t know, and it’s best to take a similarly cautious approach to strange dogs.’
Then I come across the definitive defence 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 we are not just able to tolerate dog licks, we are in fact dependent on doses of their microbes for our robust survival.
‘All the people alive today probably had ancestors in tribes that hunted with dogs,’ says Jack Gilbert, director of the Microbiome and Metagenomics Center at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
‘Our immune system evolved and was selected for the presence of dogs and their bacteria.’ And this means: ‘Exposure to dogs and their bacteria is beneficial to immune system development.’
Hurrah! Our pets are a form of vaccine against common pathogens! Or at least that’s the lesson I’m taking. I stand with Peltz Beckham. I am a dog kisser and proud of it.
