As soom people on here will of seen i had to take my 6 month old to the vets on xmas day with a allergic reaction, his face ballooned up and he had trouble breathing, then the next day the exact same thing happened to my 3 year old bitch.
In a desperate attempt to to elliminate the allergen i put away all my xmas tree and oraments on boxing day and all seemed well and i gave it no further thought until yesterday i bought my moms girl home with me because she is in season and my mother also has a boy, we were home literally 5 mins they went outside came back and and her eye looked puffy 5 minutes later and her whole face had swollen up and she was puffing and panting so she had to go to the vets for a epinephrine injection, fortunatly she is fine now but im wondering if anyone has had any similar problems and have the found out whats caused it? the only thing i can see in my garden that i think it maybe is there is some ivy growing over from the neighbours garden and some of it is sticking threw the panels.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Do you have any new air fresheners or have you changed brands of food/polish/washing powder/perfume etc ?
Try to think what was new on Xmas Eve/Day .

Im pretty sure its something outside as i litteraly got home and took them out car and let her out the back, she was only at mine for 10 minutes before her face started swelling and it was just after they came in from garden.
the trouble with all the poison plant lists they only give you the symptoms if ingested and not just from simply rubbing along it.

Can dogs get the equivalent of 'hives' when moving between extreme temperatures?

I went for a walk in the snow without a scarf and when I got back in the warm I developed an itchy rash/swellings on my face and neck caused by the temperature change.  I wonder if it affects dogs too...   Piriton or other anti-histamine does the job of sorting it very quickly.

Christmas day wasnt too cold in the midlands, this was a full on allergic reaction and which for 2 of them resulted in breathing difficulties, they are japanese spitz and have very slender muzzles but when there faces was swollen they looked like chows.

Just wondered if they have put their muzzles into an insects nest - it had been up until now a very mild winter and not all of the insects have been killed off, here queen wasps hibernate in holes in the ground it is just a thought.   Our property is surrounded by a wall which is covered in ivy, and my dogs have not had a problem with it, it is literally just about everywhere here, it hangs down off the trees and off the wall.   Just before Christmas I also had a similar experience, I was bitten by some insect on both wrists, within a couple of hours my arms neck and body was covered in swellings (hives) and the skin went bright pink.   Fortunately we had piriton in the cupboard which within a couple of hours the symptoms were beginning to clear, but had to take more piriton in the following couple of days.

That was initally what  ithought it may be with the pup as we had been to my mother in laws for xmas dinner and shes had stacks of wasps over the summer but where i live we dont really have to many bugs  but i do have quite afew garden spiders and i did have ants in the summer but yestedays episode my garden was covered in a thick layer of snow. i do also have a section of my garden with a japanese theme lots of acers and firs and maybe there could be something under them as my dogs love to go mooching threw them.
It is driving me mad not being able to work out what it could be.

Could they have access to any daffodil or hyacinth bulbs? I dont know if there any toads around this time of year? One of my girls came across one a few years ago (this was summer) & resembled Mick Jagger for a few hours. No breathing difficulties though.

It would seem Boody that insects would be warmer under the acers and firs, also some spiders can give a nasty bite!   Could possibly be the solution.   Some plants can give you skin burns, rather like blisters some which come to mind are the euphorbias, their sap will cause blistering and swelling, the leaves of primroses (not really time time of year for them, although they do start to spring up late winter).   Many plants are poisonous but they have to be ingested and would cause different symptoms.  Another which comes to mind are the fir trees, I cannot touch them as I come up in a rash from the needles.   Also as one poster has suggested toads, no doubt someone on here will know don't they give off a harmful substance?

Hope that you soon get to the bottom of it.

Found this link for you Boody toad skin contains a poisononous substance that causes inflammation of the eyes etc.

http://www.britannica.com/bps/additionalcontent/18/33252837/Toad-skinsecretions-Potent-source-of-pharmacologically-and-therapeutically-significant-compounds

When Buster was a pup he had somehting similar, allthough it never effected his breathing. He woke from sleep and his eye lids had drooped so far down I couldn't see his eyes, when inspected his eyes looked sore and they appeared painfull. This was quickly followed by loads of salivation (much, much more than normal Mastiff slobber), panting and when he tried to walk he appeared drunk.

I had him rushed to the vets, at first, by looking at him they thought he had been poisoned That was soon ruled out & they kept him in for a few hours under observation but still were unable to find anything causing it. I picked him up later that day, when he was much better (apart from some soreness in his eyes) and the vets could only assume it was some sort of allergic reaction to an insect bite.
It happened once again a few days later. Then it never happened again (this was over 2 years ago now).
Both times it started when he was on the sofa, so I had tore my living room apart looking for any possible offending bugs. I never found anything. It drove me mental not being able to pin-point the cause and for weeks I followed him around the garden watching him like a hawk in case he was getting bitten out there.

How frightening that it's so bad in your dog it's effecting her breathing :(

I can understand how you are feeling, it makes you feel completely useless :( :(
Best of luck.

Just to add the same thing has happened to my moms boy 2 days ago and she lives about 30 miles away from me, unfortunatly for him  the injection he had made him unwell too and spent 24hours vomiting and had to go back  to vets for an antisickness injection.
Im begining to wonder if there is something going round them all thats causing these unusuall sypmtoms.