Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: blaze on 03/11/2008 01:54:09

Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: blaze on 03/11/2008 01:54:09
...lick mine without getting sick?

Can you tell I'm bored?
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: neilep on 03/11/2008 02:00:39
...lick mine without getting sick?

Can you tell I'm bored?

Hang on !..can ewe actually bend over and do that anyway ?...if not !..then how do ewe know you'd get sick ?
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: neilep on 03/11/2008 02:19:19
Sorry you're bored !

Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: blaze on 03/11/2008 02:27:20
Me, too. Maybe it's the time change;)
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: neilep on 03/11/2008 02:32:30
I hope the boredom is soon gone !...I usually listen to the radio (talk radio) or  read a book...usually one with pictures for me  [;)]!...or one that has short stories !

It's horrible being bored !....you know what I used to do ?... grab a dictionary and read a few definitions !..sounds silly...but it's actually quite interesting !

Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: neilep on 03/11/2008 02:36:02
However, getting back to the original question.

There is clearly a definitive difference between a humans perception and that of a canine. With your doggy, she is cleaning (or healing) and other animals perceive the taste and aroma in a whole different perspective than we do...for the most part.  With them, it's a basic instinct...it's a ritualized duty that they perform. Their senses are tuned for that ability...in MY opinion anyway..........................we need an expert really !
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: lyner on 03/11/2008 22:25:08
...lick mine without getting sick?

Can you tell I'm bored?
If it were possible, I bet you'd get a lot fewer posts on this website.
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: RD on 04/11/2008 18:40:48
A man walks into a bar...

where he sees a dog licking its genitalia.
He jokes to the dog-owner "I wish I could do that",
To which the dog-owner replies "If you give him a dog-biscuit he may let you".
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: Karen W. on 10/11/2008 07:34:15
LOL LOL.. Very good my thoughts precisely! HEE HEE HEE!
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: BenV on 10/11/2008 11:42:05
Judging by a dog's willingness to eat just about anything, I assume that they may have much harsher conditions in their stomachs - making it harder for infectious bacteria to survive.  The habit of wound-licking leads me to suspect there may be some antibiotic property in dog saliva too.  This is all just speculation - although as a zoologist I feel I should know more!
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: Karen W. on 10/11/2008 12:18:51
I wonder about that too as they tend to want to tend to my wounds also.. at least my dog will.. if I have a cut etc.. I have to move my dog away from me because he becomes intent on cleaning it to his satisfaction.. Whats odd is that he will do the same thing with bruises etc and the place on my arm where I have a ton of pain,, from joint and muscle damage in the rotator cuff muscles.. Its like he knows where I hurt.. I wonder myself if the licking promotes circulation to the injured area to promote healing more then anything...???
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: BenV on 10/11/2008 12:54:40
I think he just thinks you taste nice.

Increasing blood flow is a good suggestion though.
Title: Why can my dog lick his hiney w/o getting sick, but I can't?
Post by: RD on 10/11/2008 15:50:30
Allowing a dog to lick a human wound is not a good idea, the dog's immune system may be able to cope with the crap (literally) it eats but this does not mean that the human immune system could cope with the microbes therein.

Quote
Coprophgia: Why does my dog eat poo?

Lindsay proposes that as a consequence of changes in fortune over the period of domestication, dogs would have experienced hard times requiring them to survive on human garbage and faeces.
This he claims may have “…been encoded over time as a genetic trait. Dogs that could subsist on such a diet would have had a distinct survival and reproductive advantage over dogs that refused to eat such things”. Subsequently, dogs that fed on refuse acquired a tolerance to the illnesses that could be caused by the ingestion of unhealthy food and faeces.
http://www.positivelydogs.com/coprophagia.pdf