If you are prone to allergies, the decision to get a dog becomes a little more complicated. After all, you don’t want to form an attachment with your new dog and then find that you can’t keep your pooch because of allergies. However, depending upon how severe your allergies are, there are a few options.

The primary source of allergies comes from animal hair and dander. There are a few breeds of dogs that some consider to be hypoallergenic because they shed smaller amounts of hair and dander than the average dog. Of course, no dog can be completely non-allergenic, but these dogs either have no fur, or tightly curled hair, instead of fur, which does not drop off as drastically as the traditional straight haired fur, and they shed far smaller quantities of dander.

Vacuuming will remove hair and dander from your home. The less hair and dander build up the less allergens you will have. No matter what dog you have, this will help.

Grooming your dog can also help. Shaving long hair from a dog will help reduce total shedding. This is another good way to reduce the build up of hair and dander in your home.

These low shed, low dander breeds include two groups, the hairless dogs, and the single-coated dogs:

Hairless Dogs:

• Chinese Hairless Crested Terrier
• Mexican Hairless
• American Hairless

Low Shed/Dander Breeds:

• Poodle
• Maltese
• Schnauzer
• Bichon Frise
• West Highland White Terrier
• Portuguese Water Dog
• Irish Terrier

More Breeds here.

There are also a number of mixed breeds that blend one or two of these low shed/low dander breeds in order to get a dog that has lower shed/dander characteristics.

In any case, to avoid trauma for both you and the new dog, there are a few things that you can do before making the final decision of getting a dog. First off, you should try to spend time with a dog of the breed that you are considering getting. At a minimum, you should try to spend at least 30 minutes at the home of somebody who has the type of dogs that you are considering. A breeder’s home is the perfect place for this, where you can thoroughly intermingle with the dogs and fully expose yourself to the hair and dander.

Another idea would be to spend an even longer period of time with this dog in your home as well. A few hours really isn’t enough time to see if you are allergic to the dog. You should ask a friend to pet sit, or even possibly offer to foster a rescue dog in need for a limited period of time to see if your allergies worsen or are tolerable.