Today more than 10,000 people in Europe have an assistance dog. From guide dogs for people with visual or hearing disabilities to service dogs (police or rescue among others). According to a UN agreement, these dogs have access to hospitals, shops and other public places. However, in actual practice, many users and their pets are denied access on the grounds of hygiene.
But is it true that pet paws are dirtier than our shoes? According to a study carried out by the University of Utrecht (United States), the legs of assistance dogs are cleaner than the soles of most people’s shoes, so hygiene is not a valid excuse to prohibit dogs Assistance dogs enter hospitals and various public spaces.
Investigation process
To carry out the study, the team of researchers cleaned the paws of 25 assistance dogs and the soles of their users’ shoes. In addition, the participants were instructed to walk their dog for fifteen to thirty minutes before taking the samples. For comparison, they also looked at a group of companion dogs (the same size) and their owners to find out if the training they received resulted in cleaner paws.
In this way, the researchers examined the samples for bacteria in the feces, which are very common in the outdoor environment, and a diarrheal bacteria ( clostridium difficile ). Scientists opted for these bacteria as they are commonly found in dogs. In addition, they did not focus on looking for traces of saliva as assistance dogs are well entered and do not use their tongues to discover their surroundings.
Study results
The results, which were published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , concluded that all the dogs’ legs were cleaner than the soles of the shoes. The legs did not have bacteria from the feces and, when they did, they carried less than the soles of shoes.
This invalidates the hygiene argument, which is often used to ban assistance dogs from public places. In addition, diarrheal bacteria did not occur on any of the dogs’ legs (in both assistance and companion dogs) and was only found once on the sole of a shoe.
