Don't worry Mike, no dog is small enough for any non-venomous snake to be a threat to. Salmonella is really not much of an issue either. I can't even guess at how many poeple I have known who have had snakes, including me, and no one has ever had a problem. It can be present in their digestive tracts, not really in their saliva, but only if they have eaten something that was infected. Not all of them have it. The bigger threat with larger pet snakes is remembering to wash your hands after playing with the dog or cat because it makes you smell like food. I guy I used to work with found that out when trying to pick up his 10 foot boa after petting the dog. The snake released him pretty quickly when it realized he was too big to eat but he ended up needing a couple of stitches.