My policy is to never pet strange dogs or cats, because in the US most are slathered with dangerous pesticides.
Also, their lawns, as thoughtless Americans contribute to killing wildlife and poisoning the ground water. Why lawns at all..taking up water and making the yard barren of diversity. Plant native plants..help the world.
Hey we don't all use dangerous pesticides and poison ground water and kill wildlife, but I get what you're saying. Sometimes I feel like I have to do 10 times my part to make up for the people who don't. In SoCal we have a drought here so we have been replacing our turf and our lawns with native plants, Xeriscapes and smart alternatives. California is very progressive liberal state. I don't worry much about touching animals or any of that I'm more worried about keeping our bee populations alive and the plastics that are now found in fish we eat.
@CaroleKay It's the pesticides that are killing the bees.
I'm currently taking cannabis oil, recovering from cancer, likely from our Haiti mission houses being doused constantly with DDT by the well-meaning US gov. SNEM program when I was growing up, killing our pets each time. Studies show a 4 time cancer rate in people exposed to DDT in childhood.
@birdingnut I hear you. it's so serious and little being done about it.