Questions about allergies and peninsula breeders

[Chris Beirne]

Hello All,

I'm brand new to doodle kisses and hope I'm posting my questions in the right place.  Please kindly let me know if my inquiry is a better fit elsewhere.  And please excuse the length of the post.  I know I can go on a bit.  :)

 

A little about me:

I am a huge dog lover and former owner of  two rescued mutts.  My husband and small children are allergy-free ( except maybe to housework), but my dad, who lives locally, is terribly allergic to dogs. When our dogs were alive he could visit in our home for only about 5 or 10 minutes before having asthma symptoms.  For several years we "solved" this problem by scheduling family time at his place, but for a number of reasons, that strategy no longer works.  After our second dog died last year, my husband and I (sadly) concluded that we would have to be dog-free for the foreseeable future.  Then a few months ago I heard about the Australian Labradoodle and began wondering if maybe the future wasn't quite so devoid of wagging tails after all.

We are in beginning stages of the research/decision process.  I could use guidance with two main issues:

 

1) We've had a visit with a  nearby breeder ( Golden Gate Labradoodles) and have made contact with other local breeders (California Labradoodles, Harmony Labradoodles)...if anyone has feedback to share about any or all of these programs, can you let me know? 

 

2) For folks who live with severe allergies, how did you conclude that getting your doodle would be ok?

My dad has a strong allergy/asthma to his neighbor's west highland terriers ( which are on the list for allergy-friendly dogs), but I've read that labradoodles have been tolerated even when other breeds were not.  Is this true?

From my research it appears as though a puppy visit is recommended but not by itself a reliable indicator.  We have an appt to visit a litter of pups (and the mom) with my dad later this week.  I'm also going to try to take my dad on a home visit to another grown dog (wool coat, but not same lines as pups).  What else should I do?  What did you do?  What would you recommend we do to be as thorough as possible? Or do you think I am crazy for even considering such a thing? I know there are no guarantees in any part of our lives, but I also know that there is so much  riding on this decision.   It will be hard  to continue to live without a dog in our home, but I would gladly choose it over making a mistake.

 

I am grateful for any advise or wisdom you can share.