Do you keep a dog at home? If so, it’s probably normal for you to see him show great joy by wagging his tail and licking when you come back home even after a few hours. Sometimes the pet dog will accept you by licking your face. Have you ever wondered why dogs lick so much?
Licking is a natural behavior of dogs. If a dog repeatedly licks its lips, it may be a sign of stress or fear. By observing the number of times a dog licks its lips over some time, dog experts can get an idea of the dog’s health.
Dogs lick their lips in response to the emotions reflected on human faces. Studies show that dogs can understand the emotions of humans and other dogs through audio and visual cues. Let me give an example of this. Surveys have revealed that dogs lick their lips more when they see an angry human face.
Is there a health risk if a dog licks us?
Many dog owners say that dogs lick their faces. But we have an aversion to certain things that dogs lick. Therefore, it is important to know if a dog licking our face poses a health risk to us.
Dogs’ mouths usually contain microorganisms that pose low risk to humans. Therefore, people do not get sick by touching human skin with dog saliva. But there are some cases that we hear rarely that people get ill due to contact with dog saliva. Even if your dog is healthy, the bacteria called Capnocytophaga canimorsus can still live in the dog’s mouth. This bacteria can be harmful to human health. Therefore, if you have wounds on your skin, do not let the dog lick you.
In addition, microorganisms such as Pasteurella multocida in dog saliva can enter the human body through small wounds on the human skin. Because of this, if you have low immunity, you may even suffer from a disease like meningitis. However, such a situation occurs very rarely. Those who are at higher risk of suffering from these diseases due to dog licks are those with low immunity, children, old people, and pregnant women. So if you belong to these categories, avoid the chances of the dog licking you as much as possible. Even if you are a healthy person with good immunity, it is better not to let your dog lick your face.
