Hi all, I’m hoping I might be able to get a bit of advice around dog ownership and allergies.

Hopefully in the new year, my partner and I are hoping to bring a dog into our home as first time owners. In the past she has had some issues with allergies while in the company of dogs. My brothers Jack Russell and my partners friends Pug have both caused her itchy and watering eyes. In other times she was able to spend a weekend in the company of three Border Collies (albeit having taken a Pireteze tablet each day), and she can remember her aunts standard Poodle never causing her allergy issues as a child.

With this in mind, we have been looking into breeds with low shedding coats. Based on our lifestyle and our circumstances, and also because we have really fallen for the breed, we would really like at some point for a Miniature Poodle to join our family. 

I guess I’m looking to see if anyone else has experience of suffering from allergies, or know of someone and how that has worked out for them? What practical steps can we take? Are breeders ok with requests to spend a little time around their dogs or pups to see how it affects allergies? I’ve read up on allergy tests that can be carried out. Do these help?

We would never go forward with bringing a dog into our home if we thought there was a chance we could not offer that dog a home for life.  So any advice would be greatly appreciated!