Just how effective are hypoallergenic dogs inside the home? According to an article on sciencedaily.com, hypoallergenic dogs really don’t lower household allergen levels when compared to other dogs as advertised. The idea behind these types of dogs is that they shed less pet dander and fur along with producing less saliva. The scienedaily.com article goes on to explain that just by simply purchasing one of these dogs, the dog allergy symptoms will not completely disappear. For example, even a dog that is hairless and cannot shed fur can produce enough dander to trigger a reaction in a highly dog allergic person. The study that the article references found that the amount of dog allergens inside homes with hypoallergenic breeds of dogs were no different from homes with non-hypoallergenic breeds. One of the main issues with this type of dog, is that the classification of “non-hypoallergenic” dog breeds is very vague. Lists of these kind of dogs can be found on the internet and allergy magazines and differ according to opinions. There is no single “official” list of the breeds. Some on the list have very little hair and some hairless. The fact that the study shows is that all dogs do in fact produce saliva and shed dander. It’s just the amount of these substances can be less in certain breeds. Effectively, what the article is saying is that with no “official” list of the so called hypoallergenic breeds, there isn’t a way to prove they truly exist. I suppose people will still buy the hypoallergenic breeds for peace of mind.
