Dogs & allergies and DH's who have one and don't want the other....

[BogeyNights]

Dh is allergic to dogs. He's wheezy after being around dogs and has trouble breathing. I puff of his inhaler eases the symptoms (he suffers bad hayfever and very very mild asthma).

Trouble is, I would love a small dog. So would my two kids, age 9 and 11. But DH says no, because of his allergy.

Has anyone got a positive story to tell whereby they had a family member who was allergic but got a dog anyway and now everything is tickety boo and the human got used to tolerating the canine??

Clutching at straws....

Ds is allergic to dogs. Spaniels, staffies, greyhounds all left him with a face so swollen he looked like he'd done 10 rounds even outdoors.

We looked at low allergy breeds and settled on a border terrier.We fiund a breeder who was happy for ds to spend time with her dogs before we comitted to make sure it would work.

He has never reacted to our dog at all.

Dh was tested and found positive for dog allergy when he was a young teen. He has allergy triggered asthma, that has always been fairly mild.

His family owned two dogs when he was diagnosed and weren't willing to part with them (neither did he) so they stayed and he coped. Dh is a massive dog lover, so when we found our first girl, all but dead, under a hedge and nursed her back to health he wanted to keep her - and we did.

25 years later and we've always had dogs, up to three at a time on occasion and dh's asthma is pretty much non-evident the majority of the time.

Interestingly dh is also allergic to cats. His family always had cats when he was a child and he had his own that used to sleep on his bed. He is much worse with cats than he is with dogs. He only has to enter a room where a cat has been to start wheezing - and despite also loving cats, there was no way he would have one as a pet. We'll never know if he would have built up a tolerance over time if he'd lived with one, but I suspect not, given the severity of his allergy to them.

He's only used his inhaler a handful of times in the past five years, a couple of times because he over exerted himself at music gigs and the other few when he's visited houses that have cats.

I do think it has to be led by the person that has the allergy though, I have never had asthma, but imagine an asthma attack to be both upsetting and scary. It's also not a given that your dh will develop a tolerance like mine has.

DH has asthma (which he's on multiple inhalers for) and is allergic to dogs but improves massively with exposure.

His family had a dog (JRT) when he was young seemingly without any issues.

We got our first dog when OH was 23 (roughly ten years since his childhood dog had died) and he was very wheezey and snuffley at first. After a while though he stopped reacting to our dog completely.

Initially he would still react to other dogs, and to ours if he'd been away from the house for a couple of days. He's continued to improve through the years though and twelve years on we now have four dogs

He's completely fine with ours and with the vast majority of other dogs we meet. He's just got back from nine days abroad with work and he barely reacted when he got home.

DH was very, very keen to get a dog though and willing to put up with feeling rough for a while. Although I'd have been upset I'd have completely understood if he hadn't been prepared to go through it for the sake of having a dog.

Dd has an allergy to animals with fur. My friend has a lurcher and she can't go to her house and another friend has a Yorkie and she's fine there (now she doesn't have pet rats anyway)
We have Eric who is a poodle/shih tzu cross, for the first week we had him she had an anti histamine as she was a bit sneezy, now though she is absolutely fine as is ds who is similarly allergic to dogs.I think their tolerance has increased because of the increased exposure.

Thanks for those tales. Sounds encouraging, and moosemama I think you are correct in saying that DH has to want the dog in order for him to put up with the allergies to start with. I don't have a clue what an asthma attack feels like - not very nice is probably a huge understatement - and having a snotty nose and wheezy chest is not fun either.

I shall continue to work on him, and find a low allergy breed or cross breed to suggest. I just saw a Lake Terrier and JRT cross on a rescue site and he looked gorgeous. wish me luck!

I'm asthmatic and allergic to dogs. I have a greyhound and haven't had a single reaction to him in the 2.5yrs of having him. There's a regular poster on here (also one of my RL friends) who has 4 greyhounds (inc. my boys brother!) and her husband is the same as me, really badly allergic to dogs and he's fine with theirs.

Bogey, imagine having an elastic band round each lung, keeping them squeezed tight while you're desperately trying to draw breath and they're just not inflating. That's something like an asthma attack, I still remember the horrible feeling and I haven't had one in years.

I'm allergic to dogs and cats, have eczema, asthma and hay fever. 2/3 of my sons also have the same.

I have a Bedlington Terrier who I am not allergic to!

It is so strange because I've lived all my life up to now being allergic to all the dogs I've come across until I met a poodle (and had no reaction to) which led me to research dogs that were supposed to be good for allergy sufferers/hypoallergenic.

I have been hospitalised before when I was a teenager after spending the night at a pals house who had a dog.

My Bedlington terrier can lick me and I can stroke him all over and have no reaction. it is a strange thing to get used to!

Perhaps research the breeds that are supposed to be hypo allergenic and see if you can meet any/go to a house to see how your DH gets on?

I have asthma, am allergic to dogs and get hay fever. I have a Golden Retriever and a Black Lab.
I take an allergy tab every day and Hoover like a demon. I've not had a reaction in the two years I've had the dogs.

DH has asthma and is allergic to long haired dogs, cats and horses. After a lot of research, we got a greyhound - very short fine coats, and recommended for allergy sufferers. We now have four greyhounds and he is absolutely fine with them. However, he is still very allergic to longer haired dogs. As an example, today we moved a Saluki x lurcher for a rescue and afterwards he was sneezing and very wheezy. If we attend indoor dog events, he has to take an anti histamine tablet beforehand and have his inhaler on standby. He will still be sneezy, wheezy and red eyed.

Just to add that we also make sure our housekeeping is geared to his allergies. Lots of damp dusting, hard floors, hot washing of soft furnishings, Miele vacuum with HEPA filter etc. though much of this predated the dogs as a management tool for his asthma anyway.

I'm allergic to most animals and I have asthma. We have a dog. He's a mini schnauzer and I'm fine with him, provided I don't rub my nose in his coat.

Of your dh wants to look I into it and find a dog may not be allergic to then great, but it has to be HIS decision, please don't 'work on him'.

By all means do a bit of research on allergy friendly dogs and present him wwith the info, and see if he is then interested. If not then you can't pressure him. Allergies are bloody awful to live wwith so it should be his choice to see if he is willing to try and find a suitable dog and out up with any allergic response he may have.

If you are going looking at hypoallergeic breeds take care not to get conned by the poodle crosses being hypoallergenic myth.

many of.these pups take on the other breeds coat properties and can set off allergies...and in many cases this becomes very obvious as they lose their puppy coat and gain their adult one.its heartbreaking to see families with these pups rehoming at 8 to 18 mknths because allergies to their now much loved puppy have become an issue.