━━
( Source: Xavierarnau / Shutterstock )
Dogs have slightly different senses than us humans. Their sense of smell is far more developed, their hearing is stronger, and as for their eyesight, these animals are dichromatic, so they can only see blue and yellow and combinations of these colours. And even their taste is a little different. Or rather, they’re able to tell a lot of things by taste. If you don’t often wonder why they lick everything, reading this article might clear some things up for you.
Do you have a dog at home that greets you when you get home from work by licking your face? Or does he wake you up every morning with his wet tongue? Some people try to wean their pet off this habit, others don’t give it much thought, even saying that dog saliva is medicinal. But how is it in reality? We’ll explain why dogs actually lick people’s faces and whether their saliva actually has any healing effect.
Almost every dog licks the face of its owner, but sometimes also of guests and other people. And the roots of this behaviour go back to wolves, the ancestors of today’s dogs. Young wolves lick the mouths of adults to demand food from them. But sometimes they also show submission. Today, dogs lick to show respect or to make contact. It’s a ritual that helps dogs maintain pack bonds.
However, a dog can show love and affection by licking, but unfortunately it can also show stress. Veterinarian Karen Becker warns that a dog that licks a human compulsively may be suffering from stress, boredom or even pain. It’s also a good idea to look out for other signals, which include stomping, whining or avoiding contact.
We may not be so aware of it, but human skin leaves many marks on us from the day. Judging by its taste, a dog is capable of sensing a variety of things. He finds it salty with a bit of an iron tinge. Sweat, dust, beneficial and harmful bacteria. It’s all there.
So sometimes a dog doesn’t lick his face just as a token of affection or to express his emotions. It’s a sensory exploration. Dogs have 1,700 taste buds in their mouths(humans have about 9,000). But they have an extremely sensitive tongue and, in conjunction with their sense of smell, they simply read our faces. And that includes our emotions, our mood, and what we’ve probably been up to during the day away from home.
━━ Although dogs have far fewer taste buds in their mouths than humans, they can still detect a lot by licking.
( Source: Carol Reis / Unsplash+ )
Some people claim that dog saliva is medicinal. Dogs are said to have created many antibodies in their mouths by constantly licking things in nature. If they lick a bleeding wound, for example, many people believe this can help healing. However, dog saliva is certainly not sterile and is not a medicinal substance.
A dog’s mouth hosts more than 600 species of bacteria, including some that can be transmitted to humans. While most of these bacteria are common in dogs and harmless to humans, in some cases, licking an open wound can instead cause harm and inflammation. Although saliva may have blood-clotting and antibacterial functions(for example, helping animals to heal wounds), it has not been shown to help heal human wounds and may instead cause infection.
If your dog is vaccinated, you are aware of what he is eating and where he is moving, his licking is unlikely to be dangerous to you. Still, it is not advisable to let your dog lick yourself or others. You never know if a person is allergic to dog saliva and will get a rash on their face, or if a parasite will get into a wound (even a small and inconspicuous one) in this way.
