Dig licking plates before going into dishwasher - ick or not

[Happyspendingthedayinthegarden]

Have have hosted a lovely Easter BH Monday for all 7 GC, 3 step children, partners & children. We had an Easter egg hunt in garden, had breakfast in local farm shop & walked my lovely little dog around, petted animals etc.

For context I need to say that DSS & DIL are both British, but live in USA.

After a roast dinner I put the plates & general pots & pans down for the dog to lick. My DIL lost the plot saying that was so unhygienic I assured her that they would be going into the dishwasher on a high temperature - about 90c so would be sterilised. I always let the dog pre-wash my plates as consider it's going into the dishwasher at high temp to be sterilised so no problem.

DIL saying she will never let her children eat at my house again & gone-taken her DH & DC off in an huff.

DH has had a text from his son apologising but saying what can he do as has to support his wife. I totally get that. But....

My question is - is it OK to let dog lick out the plates etc when they are going into dishwasher at a high temp? WWUD?

@Happyspendingthedayinthegarden

If they are being cleaned in the dishwasher I don’t see a problem at all- dishwashers sanitise the things that are put in there …

If we are having a nice meal and one of us leaves some on the plate we put it down for our dog at the end of the meal

They only live a short time and deserve some bloody plate licks every now and again it really isn’t hurting anyone in my opinion

OP, you’re going to get uptight, judgey fuckers on here, I wouldn’t have bothered posting. They’ve clearly forgot where their mouths have been over the years themselves … lol

I mean - rationally - I'm sure it's fine, but the optics of the plates and cooking pans you've just eaten from being put down on the floor to be slurped all over by a dog is going to be pretty gross to a lot of (most?) people.

This is completely disgusting. I can’t believe the amount of people that are ok with it. Dishwashers are not 100 percent. They are often stacked wrong and don’t cover all areas.

dogs spend their life sniffing and licking other animals arse holes. My dog eats cat shit when she finds it.

there is no way they should be licking human plates.

i honestly cannot believe I am readying this.

scrape it in the dogs bowl by all means. I would not have my kids eat off those plates either.

Well according to logic here that’d be fine cos the dishwasher would clean it

Also, don’t pre rinse plates as modern dishwashers wrongly assumes load is “clean” and don’t wash as thoroughly. Grim for human plates. Worse for plates licked clean by a dog 🤢

Wow this is disgusting! Who cares if it's washed in the dishwasher. Would you eat of a plate that someone shat on and then washed in the dishwasher? Well you probably would considering your dog eats shit, licks other dogs arses including its own, and is a dog! 🤮 I can't believe you're so oblivious you did this in front of guests 🤯 Ewwww!

The fact you even have to ask if this is ok would stop me eating anything in your house. What other grossly unhygienic habits do you have?

There are about the same number of bacteria in a dogs mouth as a humans mouth…and people kiss, use tongues, put their mouths all over each others bodies and don’t wash at 90degrees lol Not long ago there were no disposable nappies, and cloth nappies went in the washing machine. Ref licking bums…and peo0e do that too, I read it’s a thing 😖 People use their hands when they go to the toilet, they don’t always wash , they touch their hair, touch stuff all the time that has bugs, touch plates, cutlery, their clothes brush up against different surfaces, pick up germs when flushing a loo with the lid up and you’re worried about a dog licking a glazed plate that’s going in a dishwasher ?
A human bite is as, if not more dangerous than a dog bite, from infection pov

so yuk, maybe I should insist on new cutlery everywhere I go

I agree, particularly with the glazed plate comment. I'm hoping my plates aren't absorbent (as it seems a lot of other people's are so absorbent they cannot be cleaned) and a high temperature wash in a dishwasher with detergent gets them clean.

Might I also add people who have long nails and who prepare food to the list of things that may contaminate food (as well as dog spit). There will be no end to the detritus that must be stuck up those finger nails. Unavoidable, really as you don't boil wash your hands in the dishwasher.

'Not long ago there were no disposable nappies, and cloth nappies went in the washing machine'

You don't eat off your laundry though do you?

It looks revolting to allow dogs to lick leftovers from plates. That in itself should be a deterrent for those who have such poor hygiene standards when guests around.

It looks disgusting isn't that enough?

Regarding long nails.. I agree. I happen to like having moderately long nails, as a result I do tend to use surgical gloves when preparing raw meat (wasteful, I know), particularly whole chickens. I am very aware that little bits of nasty bacteria could reside under my nails, even if I thoroughly wash my hands. I just hate the thought of it, so I wear gloves. I know that you can use a nail brush (I do), bit I just prefer to remove the risk entirely.

For the record, i don't paint my nails either, so I can see they are clean. There's nothing more nasty than when you see the underneath of some women's long nails and they're absolutely grim.

Hmm, so how would posters feel if someone served them a meal in their dog's food bowl saying "it's OK, it's clean, it's been through the dishwasher"?

edited for a typo

I thought you were going to say you popped them back in the cupboard after the dog had licked them clean.... not that you'd put them through the dishwasher...
FFS. Its fine... it not grim, or a health hazard.
90 degree wash with whatever you use in there will kill anything...

When I had a dog I never let her lick our plates - I wouldn't want her to get comfortable with taking food off our plates tbh in case she started taking advantage! But if the plates are going in the dishwasher I wouldn't have a problem with it.

However I can see that other people might be disgusted by it. I once put the cat's bowl in my SIL's dishwasher; unfortunately she didn't see me do it so only found out when we were unloading it. She was very very upset with me and insisted on running the dishwasher again (without the offending bowl obviously).

PS, thank you for the tip about putting dish cloths in the microwave to sterilise them, I'm going to try that. I normally put mine in the washing machine ... are you all going to tell me that's disgusting too?

For the record many dog owners are a bit grim. I sat in a cafe yesterday and one couple let their dog sit actually on the table and took ‘cutesie’ photos of it while eating. Meanwhile its arse was on the table.

I put Ddog's bowls and lickimat in the dishwasher but would never let her lick clean a 'human' plate. Although, the moment I open the dishwasher door, she's got her face in there trying to lick dirty stuff!

Putting a dirty dishcloth in the microwave doesn't sterilise it ffs, it just fills the microwave with bacteria. Boil wash your cloths, separate from your other laundry. I wouldn't take hygiene advice from OP.

Logically, you'll be fine if your dogs lick the plates and they are then washed at high temperature. But YUK OP. It's hard to overcome the yuk.

? Microwave bacteria? Are you sure about that Smallmercies? Asking because I've been microwaving dishcloths and flannels for years and we're all still alive.

We are training it and it’s good ar sitting and waiting - but it’s a below 1 year old big energetic dog so that takes time to get to 100% perfect .

I wouldn’t call it poor hygiene standards - I’ve got kids, none of us are sick and rarely get sick. We clean and antibac the surfaces and very regularly mop the floors. The dishes are washed in anti bac washing up liquid and very hot water (dog doesn’t get near them) or the dishwasher - which I’ve just looked and our tablets have bleaching agent in them (probably started another debate now about bleaching my children’s insides) so I’m confident that any bacteria is removed.

A quick Google search seems to agree that dogs licking plates is a bad idea (not just grim!) - for both: the people and (!) the dogs:
https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wildlife/pets/a37845514/dangerous-let-dog-lick-plate/

If you google you'll see most dishwashers don't get anywhere near 90C or high enough temps to sterilise.

Same…

Do you not lick your partner's bollocks? (Or vagina if you're a lesbian).
At least the dog licks his own

Well if you do lick your partner's bollocks etc, at least it's by choice.
Not so for your unsuspecting guests who have no choice in the matter.

I get your point about them being serialised but i wouldn’t do it. I would scrap off any food and put in dogs bowl