“Good god, remember this when your dog licks you”: Microbiologist issues warning over letting pet lick your face

We've all been warned over letting a dog lick your face. 'You know where that's been' is a common phrase to indicate how dirty our canine friends' faces may be.

Now, a microbiologist has taken to social media to show just how dirty our dogs' mouths may be - and what we are exposing ourselves too. TikToker Nick Aicher has been swabbing his dog's mouth, nose and paws in recent weeks to reveal the amount of bacteria present. And his findings are not encouraging.

“People say their mouth is cleaner than a person's so I figured I’d take a look,” 27-year-old Nick, from Chicago, told NeedToKnow.co.uk. I swabbed with a sterile tube and then incubated the results on TSA agar for 24 hours.

“It was dirty. I can’t say I’m surprised by the results as dogs tend to stick their faces in just about everything. I personally don’t like dogs licking me cause their breath smells pretty gross.”

In his video, Nick shows how he allows his samples to grow cultures, with the results revealing the mouth of the dog was dirtier than its paws - and contained a lot of bacteria.

The experiment led to Nick advising people not to allow their dogs to lick them, as he said: “Good god, remember this when your dog licks you.” The video has since been watched more than 60,000 times, with dog lovers both repulsed by the findings, as well as finding benefits to the results, with one praising how the act may boost their immune system.

“Probably why I never get sick. Dog kisses and paws boosting my immune system," they wrote. Another said: “I’m erasing this from my memory. I’m getting those dog kisses, dirty or not.”

One dog lover said they "don’t care" about the results, adding: "I have an adult immune system. I love smelling Frito paws. I feel fine getting kisses from our pups. Never get sick."

Nick's video comes after a series of experiments in which he reveals how dirty everyday items and situations are. In the past, he has swabbed vending machines, toilet brushes, and more.

His exploits have seen him gain more than 200,000 followers, and he has since compared his dog results to those of their arch enemy - the cat. The results of that test showed the cat's paws and mouth to be significantly cleaner than the dog's. However, the nose was still riddled with bacteria.