Our quest had begun.... Unfortunately, we encountered a major road block while trying to come up with the ideal dog breed that would be a good addition to our family. Our son is allergic to almost everything! I asked our pediatrician about getting a dog, but his response was very negative.
It was his opinion that since our son is allergic to cats, a dog's dander would make him react just the same. Dander? Hmmmm.... What's that?!? I made a lot of library searches, and found out that it isn't the dog hair, but the dead skin that is stuck to the dog hair (dander) that makes people with allergies react. Since I wasn't very computer-oriented eleven years ago, finding a hypoallergenic dog breed meant having to look through many books about dogs.
After doing a lot of research, I was able to determine that we had to get a dog that didn't shed, which meant that it wouldn't leave dog hairs all over the house with dander attached to them. (I don't think that is the actual scientific "formula", but it's what I understood!) We had to go with a breed that has to have its hair cut, rather than sheds it off.
We had to be sure of getting the right dog, because we were making a long term commitment, not a temporary one. A friend of mine had told me about her neighbor getting a puppy for their family and then having to get rid of it after it was found that the son had an allergy of the dog. That wasn't a mistake we were going to make!
$4.50
