I know there is on such thing as a hypoallergenic dog but are any breeds less likely to induce an allergic flare up? My friend is enquiring but her son has allergies (I'm not sure what at present). I've told her to get him to spend time with a variety of dogs to see which affect him less and fingers crossed I've steered her away from the oodle/poo,they initially though would be best. Ideally something like a cocker is what theyre after but are these well known to trigger allergies? I'd have thought the non-shedding breeds would have been the place to start.

I have a breed with a thick double coat, which of course means lots of fluff like a snowstorm twice a year for several weeks and some coat dropped throughout the year.

I sold a puppy to a lady who thought she was allergic to dogs, bur after visiting relatives in |Norway that own my breed realised they did not affect her.

To make sure she visited a fellow breeder and found she was fine.

She came to see me and was fine with me as she was with two Border Terriers (Wire/rough coats).

She cannot be anywhere near most short or oily coated breeds.  |it seems for her it is the dander she is allergic too.  She is also allergic to cats, and I suspect it is the size of the particles as cat hair is much finer as is Rabbit fur.

Bedlington Terriers are also known to be fairly hypoallergenic -  in so far as any dog can be   ;-)

As has been suggested,  it would be best to try to spend some time with them before committing to a pup.

Bedlingtons do shed,  but it has to be brushed and combed out,  or it will matt up.  Takes about 5 minutes a day on a clipped dog :-) q

They also have very little smell,  even when wet.    I can wash ours in about 10/15 mininutes.   In the summer,  they dry outside in about 15 minutes :-)     In cold weather,  it takes about the same time with a hairdryer.

They're about the size of a small Cocker,  but half the weight.  

We'll scratch all that she's decided on a cockapoo. Ah well. I've told her all the health tests that need to be done so we will just have to see. I get the impression they want one ASAP after Christmas :(

I've advised  most are in it for the money and sent the daily mail article link too so at least she has some food for thought.

Does she realise that some people can still have allergies to poo crosses ? Someone I know of was fine with a friends cockapoo so decided that was the breed for them. Unfortunately they had a reaction to their own cockerpoo when they brought it home and a relative ended up having it. They now have a mini schnauzer with no problems.

Yeah she does. It's up to them now I suppose and just see what happens.

For the life of me,  I can't understand why anyone would want a Cocker poo,  when they  could have

A Lagotto Romagnolo

All the cachet of an  unsual name,  rarity  in the UK,  and it's a wonderful curly coated dog with a delightful nature.    

Far more  predictable than a Cocker poo,   since with that you have  no idea what the temperament or coat etc will be.

Dill, you read my mind!

I was just thinking to myself, 'why not get a Lagotto Romagnolo'?

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">For the life of me,  I can't understand why anyone would want a Cocker poo,  when they  could have

A Lagotto Romagnolo

All the cachet of an  unsual name,  rarity  in the UK,  and it's a wonderful curly coated dog with a delightful nature.    

Far more  predictable than a Cocker poo,   since with that you have  no idea what the temperament or coat etc will be.

I met two of these a few months back. The couple that owned them were wardens on a caravan site. When the site closed for the winter, they would spend the winter in Spain in their motorhome. They had got to meet a number of these little dogs and decide to get one (or two in their case). I thought they were nice dogs, lovely coats.

Yep I mentioned them. She asked me if I knew any good cockapoo breeders and I said they'll be rarer than hens teeth although there is a site/club that seems to have strict rules including doing all health tests. I also mentioned if they want one ASAP and someone has a litter chances are it'd be one to avoid.

>For the life of me,  I can't understand why anyone would want a Cocker poo,  when they could have A Lagotto Romagnolo

I've loved this breed for years - it's fascinating the way they change colour. Unfortunately last time I heard there was a two year waiting list.

We are a family that suffers from allergies from pets.
My son is asthmatic and can't be around short coated breeds (cats and dogs).  He's fine with our long coat cat and fine with spaniels and LC breeds but a short coat version of the same breeds send him into an attack.
I get a skin reaction with pets.  I can't be around dogs like staffies, dallys, beagles, that kind of thing.  My doc says my reaction is to the skin cells/ fungal and sharp coats.
My hubby can't be around fluffy haired breeds.  So our LC cat drives him insane if he sleeps in our bed.

What I'm trying to say with this is, everyone is different and will react differently to allergens.  Tell your friend all this and my advise would be to spend a bit of time with all the breeds they shortlist.  It takes me and hubby about 10 mins to react but my son is harder as it builds over months with him but you can get a fair idea of what would work for them.

Cockapoo's (although ridiculously bred) are a lovely family pet.  I know a few and although I tried to dislike due to my 'principles', they won me round :) They are a total bluddi mop tho and soak up every bit of water outside and smell like a sock that's been lost in the laundry basket for a week!! YUCK!  And this is coming from a spaniel owner!!haha But each to their own.

We're all allergic to cats here  !!??!!

Lived with them for years,  and bred them too

But as time went on,  we reacted more and more to their fur.   Both OH and DS have asthma.   DS  was wheezy and gets eczema from their fur/dander/saliva on their coat.     OH was ok unless they got on his shoulders (Burmese like to be CLOSE!)   and all of us could have ripped out our own eyes if we got a fine hair from them in our eye.    Nothing seemed to stop the swelling,  itching and pain.

So as they got older we didn't replace.   The last one died about 6 or so years ago.   

OH has been diagnosed officially as allergic to DOGS!     However,  he tested this regularly at dog shows and didn't react at all!   (He was also told he wasn't allergic to wheat,  yet reacts really badly if he eats it, go figure.   personally,  I felt the skin test at the hospital was a joke)

None of us react to the Bedlingtons.    I can even be around them when they're wet.    Most dogs make me gag when they're wet.

Really, the only way to know if a dog will be ok to live with an allergic person,  is to have proper contact with them first ;-)

Dill, our consultant told us the allergy tests were a joke.  Apparently, the company that makes the test only uses a few different reactives.  For example, there is a lab in South of England and the other is Holland ( I think but def europe).  These labs use pollen from these areas only.  So what might affect me up here, wouldn't be on the test.  Same with dog/cats.  The labs only use a certain number of dogs/cats so it is impossible to say a definate yes/no to those allergies either.  My consultant told us that the only way to be sure was to keep a diary of re-actions during interactions and how you react away from home. 

Shih tzu's are often sold as being non shedding and therefore allergy free. The breed club disputes this - I think as others said its a case of suck it and see. She needs regular grooming which fills the brush each time which to me says shedding. However they don't seem to shed in one go which is more manageable.

I met a Dandy Dinemont at a show recently he was fantastic and supposedly great coat for allergies. But the owner had to wait over a year as breeders  here are nearly as rare as Rocking Horse Poo. Even then she only got him after he wasn't deemed show standard not confident enough. But what a personality!

My friend got a Lagotto a year or so ago and I groom one as well - delightful dogs!