Allergies to Dogs

Different people are allergic or not to different breeds. My step mother is not allergic to English Sheep dogs (my husband is allergic to English Sheep Dogs), but is allergic to other breeds. When we were first looking for a dog (9 years ago) we found out this unfortunate fact, as every time I brought my husband to look at a dog in the shelter I was volunteering at, (and I was sure to bring the dog outside of the shelter) he would have an allergy attact right away. As far as controlling allergies, my husband has other medical issues, and is on much medication all the time. As you know, medications can have side effects, and side effects in combination with each other. Instead of wasting our time and money and jeopardizing my husband's health in any way, it seems more expediant to have a dog that he is actually not allergic to. He also has severe asthma, so a medication not working right or conflicting with anther medication can cause severe problems. How did we find out my husband wasn't allergic to Dobes, when we realized that there were breeds of dogs that my husband WAS allergic to (we had thought him only to be allergic to cats before), we began visiting breeders, and talking to them around their dogs for at least an hour. So we were walking in the kennels et, and it would become apparent (especially with so many dogs around us) quickly if Robert was in fact allergic to that breed. Everyone's chemistry is different, and the allergies don't conform in the stereotypical way most people will have you believe. One of my pet peeves in the shelters (I was looking for a Dobe in our shelter system before picking out Leon), is these shelter staff that will tell you unequivically, that no one is allergic to dogs that have standard poodle type hair, or dogs that don't shed, or all short haired dogs. It annoys me because they are not (in my opinion) giving out anywhere near close to the correct info, and could be about to cause some nice family or person some real heartbreak. Not every person has an "easy" time controlling these allergies. Some people actually are best to find (if possible) a breed of dog where they don't need to rely on medication to keep their breathing at an acceptable level. Good inquiry.