Small dog breed - like a Lab - Advice welcome

meritaten

Person_one wrote: »

What about a miniature poodle? They aren't as small as the name suggests, they are actually the 'mid' size out of the three and they are perfect for asthma sufferers. Why risk a 'doodle' when you can have the real thing!

Poodles are intelligent, easy to train, and they are one of the healthiest and most long living types of pedigree. There is a decent amount of grooming involved but you'll have that issue with any non shedding breed and you can keep the coat short and manageable, the daft puffball style is not compulsory!

I am not normally a fan of poodles - but, for asthma sufferers they seem to suit a lot better. unless you have a wool allergy, in which case be careful!
I have to admit that they are intelligent and providing you don't go for the 'daft puffball' cut - they do look rather nice dogs!

Person_one

meritaten wrote: »

I am not normally a fan of poodles - but, for asthma sufferers they seem to suit a lot better. unless you have a wool allergy, in which case be careful!
I have to admit that they are intelligent and providing you don't go for the 'daft puffball' cut - they do look rather nice dogs!

Loads of people have a weird prejudice against poodles. I'm not sure what they think they're like, I genuinely think it is just the haircut that does it!

They're actually fabulous dogs, they were gun dogs in germany, bred to retrieve from water (poodle comes from pudel, meaning puddle!). They're possibly the most intelligent and trainable breed (with some competition from border collies) and the vast majority live long healthy lives without the health problems lots of breeds suffer. They are used as working dogs still and a team of standards even entered a sled race once and beat some of the huskies! The smaller sizes are just scaled down versions of the standard, they don't have any exaggerated features or deformities. The smaller ones are very fast and fit and do well at things like agility and HTM.

Yet nobody likes them because of the show clip, which actually originated for a practical purpose, to keep the vital bits warm in the cold water.

(Can you tell I have a poodle? )

Person_one

Paradigm wrote: »

Behave You know exactly what I mean.

Not really, I'm afraid.

Sally_A

My Polish rellies had a poodle, I didn't even realise it was a poodle as it was not clipped into Foo-Foo mode.

Looked like a mad dreadlocked mutt, and great fun.

Totally changed my stereotypical view of poodles.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

with mild asthma something with less body mass for dander would be better for you. so small dogs or medium dog with short hair.

i got a yorki [STRIKE]terror[/STRIKE]terrier for the OH for valentines day, she is fab good with my cats, and is learning, i thought i would be in hospital with the docs pouting out "oooh now dogs and cats are a no go for Asthma sufferrers youll have to get rid" but im actually fine and had no reaction to her whatso ever, and i firmly believe that is because there isnt so much dander from her furr as she is small, even meritaten sucked her teath and said what did you do that for when i told her! (Meri is my mum FYI "hey mum") she is also bathed every week with specialist doggy shampoo http://www.petsathome.com/shop/exmarid-deep-cleansing-shampoo-250ml-26539 inexpensive aswell (dont forget whilst at petsathome to donate a small amount to PDSA or cats protection league i always give a little when im in there i am not an employee or a reprasentative of either of these charities either).

oh and when bathing a small dog, try not to get water in ears or eyes, it irritates them as the water will slosh in the ears for a long time and can cause impacted wax to form, and some shampoo's may say eye friendly or "irritant friendly to animals" its best not to let it get in the eyes just incase the dog developes conjunctivitus in the eyes as small dogs are prone to.

i would also favour a king charles spaniel, or a english springer spaniel (more medium sized dog), a PUG, chewowah (sorry sp not my forte),a highland terrier. or the opposite scale if you want an easily trainable, highly loyal, obediant, affectionate, highly sociable dog would be a boxer dog tan and white and black muzzle oooh so cute i wish i could have one but i know i wont tollerate the body mass of danger i wouldnt care about the slobbering its quite adorable!, you could also look at sharpei's (the wrinkle dogs),a chasen english toy spaniel (best kept as a pair from siblings) depending on what tempermant your looking for it may not be in a small medium dog but a large one such as the boxer, but there are newfoundlands that are just mindblowingly cute and obedient, saint bernard (yes beethoven dogs), old english sheepdog, irish red setter.

dobermans are great if you want a guard dog, german shepards well you really need to pick a breeder carefully one that loves the breed and not the cashflow from the pups.

mum (meritaten) and the family loved our female springer spaniel MEG (or MEGAN when she was naughty) she was a flumpy girl but very very loyal looked like this when she was a puppy. (this not her but looks like her) megan wobble belly we called her because when she walked her belly would wobble side to side. lovely tempermant but thick as two short planks never known a dog to just walk out into a resevoir and keep walking completely submerging herself and drowning herself! only finally learned to swin when she was about 9 years old when watching another dog in the pond, also when on a secluded beach would dig for hours, im sure she thought china was at the other end. oh here i am remaniscing now, sorry for long winded post im off to have a little cry now.

meritaten

hey atrix!

how many times did I have to rescue that silly dog from the res? lol
seriously tho - I think the OP should think carefully about the breed and size of dog if they are even mildly asthmatic. asthma should never be taken lightly and although I am a firm believer that continued exposure to one animal results in desensitisation to that particular animal - I still would be very careful. stock up with inhalers and antihistamines!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

meritaten wrote: »

hey atrix!

how many times did I have to rescue that silly dog from the res? lol
seriously tho - I think the OP should think carefully about the breed and size of dog if they are even mildly asthmatic. asthma should never be taken lightly and although I am a firm believer that continued exposure to one animal results in desensitisation to that particular animal - I still would be very careful. stock up with inhalers and antihistamines!

i agree, research the dog you wish to have, reasearch the breeder (ask for refrences from past puppy purchasers), visit and stay there for a while to see if you react to them (inhalers handy and some antihistamines to take upon leaving to relieve symptoms) pyratin, zyrtek (zyrtek are available via prescription from GP for asthma and other repiritory disease sufferers),claratin, rhinolast and beconase nasal sprays also help (and available via gp prescription or via pharmecy to buy. it may also help having the hayfever injection kenelog during high polen months for asthma suffers aswell as this reduces the hayfever symptoms aswell during the spring summer months and lasts 4-6 weeks 2 injections a year is all youll get as thats the safest level.

also have your asthma nurse perform a allergin test, include egg, tree pollen, grass pollen,flower pollen, cat dander, dog dander, seafood, dairy produce etc before you look for a dog, just to rule in or out the allergy to dogs and others, then take some antihistamins and ask for the test to be repeated a week later to see if the antihistamine works for you if you do have a dog or cat reaction to the test.

i know for a fact that i'll have to have cassie my dog neutered before she hits her first "season" im severely allergic to female dogs in heat when they are producing the eeerrrm stuffs from down there shall i call it, i get anaphelactic shock when i come into contact with the "love stuff" i descovered this when my sis in law's german shepard came into heat and ended up in A and E and high dependancy ward in llantrisants royal glamorgan hospital was looked after really well by a young doctor mahto who is the daughter of the doctor in my GP's surgery, its a small world lol.

anyway this post is purely intended for informational purposes only and NOT intented as medical advice for any one to seek, i am no GP paramedic or in anyway medically trained to diagnose anything health related, (although you pick allot of things up when you spend most of your life in hospital as a second home ) seek advice from you GP always for anything related to allergies, reactions and anything health related, or talk to your VET!!! who can hand out some pretty sound information aswell regarding pet allergies. thanks for reading although i think this post will dissapear wich i hope it does not!.

MatyMoo

Mini schnauzer are great for allergy sufferers as they do not moult. The down side to that is that they need regular grooming and brushing.

My mini has a play mate who is a mini poodle (another non moulting dog), wow is he fast! Lovely little dog, not clipped in the correct (awful) poodle manner.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

MatyMoo wrote: »

Mini schnauzer are great for allergy sufferers as they do not moult. The down side to that is that they need regular grooming and brushing.

My mini has a play mate who is a mini poodle (another non moulting dog), wow is he fast! Lovely little dog, not clipped in the correct (awful) poodle manner.

is not sho much maulting that affect a asthma sufferer is the dander (dead skin) wich is the biggest allergin to us.

Person_one

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

is not sho much maulting that affect a asthma sufferer is the dander (dead skin) wich is the biggest allergin to us.

Not all of us.

Most allergy sufferers are fine with a non-shedding breed and not fine with a shedding breed, whether its the fur, the dander, the saliva or anything else that's the actual allergen.