pets

[BetteTheRed]

I think with your condition, chemgal, respectfully, that messing with allergies is not something you want to do.

I actually have (according to skin prick tests, which are less reliable given my skin issues) fairly serious allergies to both dogs and cats, but what I've found over the years is that I can get my immune system conditioned to accepting my own critters (I'll still often get a quick onrush of hives from contact with a 'strange' dog or cat).

 

[ChemGal]

I think with your condition, chemgal, respectfully, that messing with allergies is not something you want to do.

I actually have (according to skin prick tests, which are less reliable given my skin issues) fairly serious allergies to both dogs and cats, but what I've found over the years is that I can get my immune system conditioned to accepting my own critters (I'll still often get a quick onrush of hives from contact with a 'strange' dog or cat).

Oh, I don't plan to, with the exception of a service dog if that becomes an option - and even that would be with testing. It's just an issue with their policy for those with some limited though severe allergies.

 

[BetteTheRed]

Oh, cool, are they training service dogs to recognize your attacks? I'd guess there's chemical markers before them? Service dogs are such a wonderful gift. I have a blind cousin in the U.K. who has had a most marvellous expansion of her life with a guide dog.

 

[ChemGal]

Oh, cool, are they training service dogs to recognize your attacks? I'd guess there's chemical markers before them? Service dogs are such a wonderful gift. I have a blind cousin in the U.K. who has had a most marvellous expansion of her life with a guide dog.

People have done it, all in the US from what I have heard and it's still not common. I've also heard of non-trained dogs who just do it, one person credited her pet with saving her life for waking people up in the middle of the night, I think she was to the point that she needed an ambulance.
I'm not sure why it's so easy (relatively speaking) to get a dog for some disabilities and not others.

 

[BetteTheRed]

I'm thinking it's the unique combo of recognizing the markers of a disorder and its implications, combined with the average IQ of the dog breed. I'm sure my beloved Buster could smell anything; I'm equally sure he'd not know what to do about an 'off' smell...

 

[Carolla]

Bacon is different than peas...I don't know what it is about hounds and fat. Lucy has had the odd pound of butter left out to soften, also once carved a nose-sized tunnel right up the middle of a pan of date squares as they cooled on the back of the stove.

"nose tunnel" - I have a perfect vision of that!