dont know what to do

[cheeryface]

we are a family of animal lovers. we have wanted a dog for a long long time but my son (10) has severe hayfever , mild asthma and would always react to mils dog , so we never have had one.

a recent skin prick test was negative to dogs but i am not sure they are completely
reliable. he hasnt been around dogs for 18 months since mil moved away and none of our friends have any.

now, we know of a dog for sale, a lovely shih tzu. the people are expecting another baby and have too many commitments to give him full attention. we desperately want him but i am worried ds will react and i will have to break his heart by rehoming.

what would you do ?

we have thought a lot about owning a dog . i am home all day and i walk everywhere etc etc.

Could you explain the situation to the current owners and 'borrow' the dog for the weekend?

My ds has a dog allergy and we pretty much know within half an hour if he's going to react or not.

im not sure. we dont know them, i suppose it depends how understanding they are.

It only takes 10mins for my dd to react to a dog!
We've heard that miniature schnauzers and labradoodles are non allergenic.

Only some miniature schnauzers and labradoodles are hypo-allergenic. I think it depends on which genes they inherit. You would have to be around the dogs first to check, I think.

If the family are keen to re-home and you are a suitable option, as far as they are concerned, I'm sure they would let you visit and spend time with the dog. Perhaps you could ask to take it out for a walk/to the park if they are not keen for you to have it for a weekend.

I wouldn't risk it with my ds, unless I was sure he would not react. It wouldn't be fair on ds or the dog.