Do you let your dog lick the dishes?

[NinjaSnail]

Lunch at a friend's house last week. Chatting happily. Took plate over to the sink, rinsed it, put it in the dishwasher. Turned around to see her standing behind me holding plate out for dog to lick before adding to the dishwasher.

I love dogs but I have to admit my stomach did turn a little on seeing this. Is this standard for dog owners? I grew up with dogs and we never did this, but I'm wondering if we were in the minority?

Bobbybobbybobby I'm well jel! Not only have you a house elf in dog disguise but looks like you have a laundry room!!
Your pooch is fab!

One of my cats will occasionally sneak in and lick up toast crumbs from a plate. 😻

Fucking disgusting! She's minging

Oh my god our dogs eat the leftovers off our plates after every meal. Plates go in dishwasher - how on Mumsnet earth is that a thing?

No, one is on a restricted diet and can’t have any other food. The other eats actual poo at every opportunity so don’t want her licking the plates.

Not all the time.

I had always understood that a 60 degree wash wasn't always sufficient to kill all bacteria. But also why would you risk it? They lick their bottoms no...?

Yes I do but I have a dishwasher. I typically find hand washed crockery much more revolting as most people aren't very good at it and wash things in lukewarm water. A spoon which has been licked by a human and has been handwashed is much grimmer.

And I would be very happy to never entertain you again

Because they “love” their dog and they’re “part of the family” 🙄

Totally ignoring the fact they’re dirty little fuckers.

I'm easy with this, just so long as poochie is thorough & does a good job.

^^
This
I couldn't agree more

🤮 Oh god know... Dogs lick their arses and all sorts

Yes my lovely dog licks the plates. He thinks he's being helpful.
I also feed him my dinner and we share the same fork. He's not caught any germs off me yet.

• no - bloody phone

That is utterly repulsive.

I despise dogs at the best of times - desperate, slobbering, stinking animals. But letting them lick plates is a new low.

I knew I'd read it somewhere but rinsing/cleaning plates before they go in the dishwasher isn't the best and I found this from a whlte goods repair site-

One of the biggest appliance myths out there is that dishes must be rinsed before they go in the dishwasher. In fact, this action will decrease how effectively your dishwasher cleans its contents.
So, why is this? The enzymes in dishwasher detergents work by binding to food debris on crockery in order to clean it. Simply put, if most of the food debris has already been washed off prior, then the detergent enzymes have nothing to bind to – hence, they cannot clean the dish effectively and you may end up with a less adequate clean.

I do! Doesn’t bother me in the slightest, been doing it for more than 20 years, don’t know anyone with dogs who doesn’t! If you don’t like it, feel free not to visit.
I do have a separate washing machine for dog beds etc though, because I don't like the hair on everything!

If you don’t like it, feel free not to visit.

OP only knows because they happened to see it. There's presumably dog owners that just do it when nobody's looking.

Yep I do but only if it's dog appropriate (ie no onions/ leeks)
I probably wouldn't let him do it if I had guests round though.

Dishwasher soaps if all off and it goes down the drain, same with all the germs.

Just because a dishwasher doesn't get hot enough to actually kill the germs in the water doesn't mean it's not cleaning it. If I thought plates were coming out of the dishwasher still dirty I'd probably not bother putting them in there in the first place.

A quick google tells me that a water temperature of 60-65 is enough for a hygienic, germ-killing clean. The dog is on a fairly restrictive diet so doesn’t lick plates etc. as standard but she is allowed the odd bowl that I have whisked eggs in or similar. Her food bowls/kongs go in the dishwasher too, but anything of hers that has to be hand washed is done with a separate sponge and only after all human items have been done first. If that isn’t good enough for people then they’re going to have to stop coming to my house!

Every meal? Do you not eat anything with onions/garlic in? Nothing salty?

Sparkling knows the drill. Along with a comment suggesting people who find this gross probably buy a new table set everytime they have guests!

My cat will lick custard/beans/yoghurt
I haven't even thought about it TBH and I'm immunocompromised
I wash up by hand and usually do it after making a cup of tea so everything goes in boiling water (I pour the remaining kettle water over the dishes)

I love my dog, but also a big nope from me.My motherinlaw, allows her dog to do this,
I always found it unhygenic.Yuck

I never give her plates to lick - but I've caught her many times with her head in the open dishwasher whilst it's in the process of being filled, licking the plates she can reach. There's not really even food on them as I pre-rinse but she enjoys licking the water off.

I can't bring myself to be bothered about it, they're just about to go through a scalding hot cycle - I doubt any germs would survive it.