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Border Collies and allergies


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We found out at the monday morning meeting this week that we get to bring our dogs to work (if they are crated). (This was great news to counteract the new Bush announcement on endangered species act review).

 

The catch is this is on a case by case basis. Obviously any dog that the insurance doesn't like (i.e. pits, dobermans, GSDs I think) are out. But then also out are dogs that behave poorly, which makes sense - barking would drive us crazy there.

 

But then, people started writing their pleas for their dogs to come in, as in, here is a picture of the dog and does anyone in my immediate area have an issue blah blah blah. But the people who got to announce and start this whole thing (and it became quite an email-fest, as emails before 9 am on monday are generally considered fair game for crazy), all had poodles. And so they launched on these long introductions of how great their poodles were, so small no one would notice, AND hypoallergenic.

 

Now, I don't think this is true. I am tested allergic to dogs, and *know* that poodles have made my eyes water and puffy scratches everywhere. Maybe they were poodle Xs, but whatever. But I thought I remembered in a thread I can't find now that someone said BC fur is also low allergen, or something? I would believe this. I got hives all over the first month with Odin (I know this sounds terrible, but I am allergic to all animal fur and have to go through an "inoculation" period with each pet I have), but those went away relatively quickly and I had almost no sneezing.

 

I do worst with dogs with oily coats, like rotties and dobermans. Anyway, one guy who always used to bring his little Cairn terrier to work on monday mornings wrote then that his dog was also hypoallergenic, which I took for a joke, right?

 

Anyway, I can't find the previous thread I remember but does anyone have any light they can shed on this for me? I want to be bulletproof in my case to bring him, and to be able to tell anyone in my general area that he is "totally low allergy. ...ish." :rolleyes:

 

We start canine good citizen prep in 2 weeks and I groom him nightly (to keep down shedding and dander), so I figure those are both things in may favor.

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Hypoallergenic dog breeds are marketing B.S.

 

The major dog allergens (Can f1 & Can f1) found in dog dander are salivary lipocalin proteins.

 

Can f1 is produced by tongue epithelial tissue.

Can f 2 is produced by tongue and parotid gland.

 

No changes in breed will alter the fact that ALL dogs have tongues and parotid glands.

 

There is an international standard for this protein that is used in allergy tests and extracts for therapy to gauge the potency of all sources of dog dander extracts: WHO International Standard Dog (Canis familiaris) Hair Dander Extract. The quote below describes how this standard was prepared; note that a so called hypoallergenic breed was used to prepare the standard.

 

The first International Standard for Dog (Canis familiaris) Hair/Dander Extract consists of a freeze-dried extract prepared from an equal mixture by weight of dander from Alsatian and Poodle breeds. The extract was made at 1% wt/vol in 0. 125M ammonium bicarbonate buffer at +4°C, clarified and ultra-filtered in a hollow-fibre filter with a cut-off of 2,000 daltons. The extract was freeze-dried after processing.

 

This study looked at the amount of allergen produced by various breeds.

 

Dog factor differences in Can f 1 allergen production

 

ABSTRACT

Background: The clinical importance of dog allergy is well known, but it is unknown if all types of dogs represent the same risk for allergic patients.

 

The purpose of this work was to evaluate among 288 healthy dogs if the levels of Can f 1 on fur vary between breeds (German Shepherd, Pyrenean Shepherd, Poodle, Cocker spaniel, Spaniel, Griffon, Labrador retriever and Yorkshire terrier), gender, hormonal status, hair length, and according to the presence of seborrhea.

 

Methods: Each dog was shaved in a limited area and Can f 1 concentrations were measured in μg/g fur by ELISA. The results (geometric mean values and 95% confidence intervals) were analyzed using analysis of variance and with nonparametric tests.

 

Results: A wide variability in Can f 1 levels was found between dog breeds, from Labradors [1.99 (0.03–129.91)] to Yorkshires [16.72 (3.67–76.16)] and Poodles [17.04 (2.79–103.94)] but only the Labrador levels were significantly different from each other breed. Males produced more Can f 1 than females, 11.75 (1.27–108.40) vs 8.89 (0.91–86.39). No difference was found according to hair length or hormonal status. The seborrheic status highly (P = 0.0019) influenced the presence of Can f 1 on hair: 16.66 (1.59–173.96) vs 9.40 (1.03–85.70).

 

Conclusion: Breeds (Labrador retriever), sex and seborrhea seem to influence the levels of Can f 1 on fur.

 

Note that within each breed there was a wide distribution of how much allergen was found on the fur of individual dogs (example: Poodles 2.79–103.94 ug/g). Hair length and sex had no effect on the amount of allergen found on the fur. Skin health did affect the amount of allergen found on the fur. The allergens (proteins) are produced in the mouth, these end up on the skin, the dead skin soughs off as dander, putting the allergens into the air. Clearly, healthy skin will minimize the amount of dog allergen that ends up in the air.

 

Mark

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The quote below describes how this standard was prepared; note that a so called hypoallergenic breed was used to prepare the standard.

 

Ha, ha, that's great! I *knew* there was no such thing as a "hypoallergenic" dog, but only had my own body's reactions to go on. Now, I'd be interested in seeing a study on potential small differences in the Can f1 and Can f2 proteins in individual animals. Just like allergy shots, the longer I am exposed to a given individual, then less I react to that specific individual. With some dogs, the reaction never goes away totally.

 

Hopefully, no one will object for allergy reasons anyway, as I really wouldn't want to bother anyone. But I just couldn't stand the poodle-people claiming their "little angels" are like the Nutrogena soap of dogs, or something, at least not without real, factual ammo..."Well, actually..."

 

While not all the responses are in, all the people I've talked to seem excited for him to come in. I keep reminding them he's only a pup, so we'll take our time and not come in until I know he can be good all day. Assuming he gets the ok, I will have a tough time being a patient mom and waiting for that point! :rolleyes:

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