Me and a kid or 2 are allergic to pooches but the wee-uns still leave notes on every door saying “Project Puppy, they are so cute, we need a dog” etc..

They have an adult female on their side too so I might be fighting a losing battle.

So, do hypo-allergenic, non-shedding, trail-friendly (preferably-self-cleaning-non-sh***ing) dogs exist?

Thanks,

A

Yes they do.

Labradoodles are one of the dogs of choice.

I heard somewhere that a Bichon Frese is hypo-allergenic, it’s definately non-shedding (the downside is having to have it trimmed every 5 or 6 weeks), not sure about trail-friendly.

Try a Yorkshire Terrier – doesn’t shed hair, probably not a good trail dog though

Any poodle, poodle cross or schnauzers certainly don’t shed. I guess it depends on exactly what aspect of the pooch you are allergic to.

Labradoodles are hit and miss. They’re a cross intended as guide dogs for blind people with pet allergies, combining lab trainability with poodle non-shedding charactistics but it’s a bit of a lottery as to how those traits express themselves, Anyone who drank in Moseley in the 90’s will have met Elvis. He was guide dog reject who was daft as a brush and who shed bucket loads of fine crimped hair. He was happy to be pretty much anyone’s dog for the day though.

So a poodle would be a safer bet

We went down the route of a cockapoo for this reason, because of my daughter’s asthma.

Non shedding is definitely true, however the hair is also cunningly designed to collect huge amounts of sand from the areas we walk on. So if you think non-shedding means less cleaning, think again.

She’s a great dog though, happy to run all day if you want but equally she was happy at home for 5 hours yesterday while we went out with my parents for easter dinner. Currently patrolling the garden in case of enemy cat activity.

Any poodle, poodle cross or schnauzers certainly don’t shed.

Mate of mine suffers from allergies to a point where when they move to a (new build) house he had to replace all the carpets. They have two giant schnauzers.

Ours is, mini Schnauzer/ Shih Tzu cross. I’m reply allergic to furry things, but don’t react to him at all. He doesn’t shed and has a great temperament.

Shih tzu ….my misses is allergic to everything…but not shih tzu’s
They don’t shed and they are funny little things….ours is now 15…. A excellent little dog for the man that doesn’t need protecting!!

Bedlington terrier. Non-shedding, and awesome all round.

Whippets!

My better half has allergies and our whippet is more than compatible.

We have a Labradoodle, amazing dog, great with the kids will play all day, couldn’t wish for a better dog. But my goodness does he shed!!!!!!! Only the woolly poodle coasts don’t shed.

If non shedding was the key I’d look at a Border terrier, or those suggested above.

Standard Poodle owner here and no issues with allergies, although like any dog they like to lick stuff, so if you are allergic to their saliva then you are stuffed. But as noted above they don’t shed hair, so no issues there apart from the regular grooming bill.

A few things about poodles, (1) standards are decent sized dogs so you are looking an adult weight of around 25-33 kg, and they are tall when they stand on their hind legs which they are more than happy to do; result is they can pull stuff off work surfaces etc. easily. (2) they are smart, which means they train easily but can get bored and cause mischief. (3) they hate being left alone, so you need to spend a lot of time with them, not a breed for people out at work all day.

Bedlington terrier. Non-shedding, and awesome all round.

Whippets!
My better half has allergies and our whippet is more than compatible.

Or a beddy whippet lurcher. My mum has one its as mad as a box of frogs

As said, Schnauzers, Poodles etc don’t shed but they do need regular grooming. Crosses you can’t guarantee what you will end up with coat wise, and many Labradoodle and Cockerpoo breeders are mixing more poodle in to the mix as they are marketed as low/non shedding dogs but many shed a lot. We have a miniature poodle who doesn’t shed, but gets clipped every three weeks (the wife does it), and bathed once a week as she absorbs smells.

Previously we had a short haired border collie, who shed like you wouldn’t believe all year round. His hair would get everywhere, but mud just fell off of him and he rarely got bathed. He was pretty much self cleaning. With the poodle everything sticks in her coat, and twigs get tangled in the coat. She needs brushing daily, and the coat mats if it isn’t brushed, the coats can tangle if left to air dry too.

I am not sure if other non shedding dogs require as much work, but it’s worth looking into to make sure you are aware of how much work is involved, and how much grooming can cost before agreeing to get a dog.

soft coated wheatens are another option:

If non shedding was the key I’d look at a Border terrier, or those suggested above.

Again with Borders it depends on their coats. My current border casts fairly badly the last one didn’t.

I’ve yet to find any dog that doesn’t trigger my allergy in some way or other 🙁

If its not their coat, its their saliva.

Dang. Would love a dog too.

Our whippet doesn’t shed

Downside is her coat is so fine she needs a coat in winter

Doesn’t really smell either apart from the farts

No idea if she would trigger allergic reaction though sorry

If its not their coat, its their saliva.

Same with cats but they like their coats and then the cast hair spreads the saliva.

Legend, Wheaten terriers might not shed BUT the coat collects dirt twigs and seeds , you need to properly groom the coat almost daily to stop it tangling .

My husband has asthma that can be set off by prolonged exposure to dogs. We’ve got a Tibetan Terrier/cocker cross (by accident, he was a rescue dog) – he doesn’t shed in the conventional sense as he has hair, rather than fur, thanks to the Tibetan parentage, and my husband is 100% fine with him. 🙂

HOWEVER he* does require regular grooming – he has to be brushed regularly to keep him from forming matts, washed and conditioned at least every two weeks (although it’s sometimes more frequent if he has fox poo adventures -_-) and goes to the groomers every 8 weeks, as his hair doesn’t stop growing – show Tibetans will grow their coats to floor length, most people that keep them as pets keep them a lot shorter!

He also collects twigs, seeds and various spiky things like crazy, and does still lose hair similar to humans (not as bad as me though, I’m forever cutting mine off the vacuum rollers!

*the dog, not the husband!

OBLIGATORY PHOTOS!

Barack Obama has a hypo-allergenic dog, apparently.

Edit – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_(dog)

Spanish Water dog for the last 10 years, fantastic curly non-shedding woollen coat that needs looking after if you dont want a fluffy ball. I dont want to say too much about them as everyone will want one!

In a word.

No.

At least not in the strictest sense of the word.

However, some breeds are less likely to cause a reaction than others.

Wiki link
(not perfect I’ll admit but research is quoted that looks peer reviewed – if your bothered to go & look it up.)

My missus has always been allergic to dogs, but we have a malshi (shitzu/maltese cross) and he don’t molt or cause her any irritation. He does however need grooming a lot.

Stanley, our Bedlington.

Both my wife and youngest daughter are properly allergic to dogs. We’ve had Stan 5+ years with no bother.

Supposedly schnauzers don’t shed. In which case our giant schnauzer must be letting a black lab into the house to fill it with fluff…

Moults like crazy

Our standard schnauzer was never as bad as this, but then we had staffie up to deal with

Thanks all – lots of useful info here & great pics. Very cute.

I really didn’t know about the saliva allergy, I thought it was just the dander.

I do like the small dogs too but I think we’d want a bigger one… we probably need to spend some time with some of the supposedly less allergenic breeds to see if we get the same reaction as when we are with ‘regular’ dogs.

The Spanish water dog was suggested by someone previously too. Love the floppy locks on that one.

Thanks again.

Ade

Not a Labrador, they shed, a lot, and then more, and when you think you’re done, some more again

I could stuff pillows for half of Asia with the amount my lab sheds!