Can I pass a cold on to my pooch?

Unless your dog is a werewolf, no.

Most viruses are species specific. It’s not usually a concern, no.

As long as you hold off frenching for now.

No, you cannot pass a human cold on to your dog. Dogs can, however, pass some diseases and parasites to you, such as roundworms, hookworms, ringworm, toxoplasmosis and salmonella.

@crisw- And rabies.

No, viruses and germs that attack humans cannot attack dogs. The only things that can be passed between human and pet are contact diseases, and some bacteria strains.

@YARNLADY
“No, viruses and germs that attack humans cannot attack dogs.”
As I mentioned, not quite. Rabies, anthrax, and Lyme disease are a few examples of diseases that can attack both (although perhaps not be spread directly from one to the other.)

@crisw Of the three you mentioned only rabies is a virus, so I stand corrected on that one, although it does require contact, there others are in the bacteria strains I said can be transmitted, by contact.

If I’m not mistaken there are actually some species of the common cold (which is actually a medley of virus’ and bacteria that cause similar symptoms) which are transferable between humans and dogs (and cats). Often times the flu is inter species (see Avian Flu).

@YARNLADY
“Germ” is a pretty general term; it usually means any non-eukaryotic disease agent, not just a virus.

@westy81585
As far as I know, the” “common cold is caused only by viruses. Other diseases, such as bacterial bronchitis, may compound the cold, but the cold itself is viral.

@ crisw What I mean is that often (if not most) times people simply clump all the things that give the symptoms of a cold together in one category that they label as a cold (and i’m not talking about the same symptoms but to an extreme level, such as bacterial bronchitis would produce, I’m referring to the same symptoms and at the same levels). When in fact they’re not always inflicted with an ACTUAL cold.

Some of those species are most definitely transmittable between species. (I can vouch for this personally as I’ve gotten sick with cold-like-symptoms, at the same time as my dog multiple times in the years I’ve owned him)

a cold? no.