[Top: With these labradoodles and a toy poodle, there are no more sneezing fits for Tammy Wong and her daughter, Summer.]

By Cheryl Tan

Dance artist Tammy Wong really loves dogs. The only trouble is, she has a sneezing fit whenever she comes in contact with fur shed by those cute canines.

Wong's only daughter Summer Chan, 12, also loves pooches, but her allergic reaction to them is even worse than her mum's - she gets a rash around her mouth, suffers watery eyes and her hands start itching.

But the family wanted a big dog so badly that they went ahead and got one anyway. Well, two, actually.

And doggone it, their purchases have turned out to be a howling success.

The reason?

The dogs they bought, Angel and Samson, are labradoodles - a cross between a labrador and a poodle - and are hypoallegenic, and so less likely to cause allergic reactions.

This is because they have tight, curly fur. It does not shed in clumps that spark sneezing and other reactions.

The dogs were imported from an Australian breeder and cost 'as much as a one-way air ticket after paying for transportation costs for each dog', said Wong, 38.

Such dogs are available only on demand in pet shops, said Soo Kee Kennel manager Kelly Ng, as importing one can cost more than $3,000 including air-freight costs. The high costs deter pet shops from importing them.

Such curly-coated critters are in the spotlight at the moment after United States President-elect Barack Obama named a similar crossbreed, a goldendoodle - the offspring of a golden retriever and a poodle - a possible choice for the next White House pooch.

He had promised his two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, seven, that he would get them a dog if he won the election. Malia is allergic to most breeds, hence his choice of a goldendoodle.

Animal Recovery Centre veterinarian Eugene Lin told LifeStyle these dogs produce less dander or skin sheddings, shed less of their coat and have fewer skin problems, which might encourage shedding.

Besides the labradoodle, he said other breeds popular with pet owners who suffer from allergies and asthma are poodles, schnauzers, bichon frise and the goldendoodle.

'But hypoallergenic dogs are not non-allergenic dogs,' he cautioned.

'They will still shed allergenic particles, but in smaller quantities, so they are less likely to trigger an allergic response in people.'

Ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists estimate that between 10 and 30 per cent of Singaporeans suffer from dog and cat allergies, with twice as many people allergic to cats than dogs.

Raffles Hospital's ENT surgeon Stephen Lee said typical allergy symptoms such as runny or blocked nose, sneezing, itchy eyes and nose, watery eyes, asthma and cough are 'triggered by the scales of dried skin and hair that are shed from the body of the animal, similar to dandruff or pet pollen'.

ENT surgeon Huang Shoou Chyuan of Huang Ear Nose Throat Surgery at Gleneagles Medical Centre noted: 'House dust mites, which are the most common allergens, also feed on the dander and aggravate the allergy.'

As for dogs' creature opposites - cats - Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Centre veterinarian Simon Quek said the felines cause allergies due to the 'secretions from the anal glands that cats use to mark their territories and which they spread all over their fur when they groom themselves'.

But a $600 surgery to remove the cat's anal glands will help keep allergies at bay, he said.

Speech language therapist Joyce Lew and her research analyst fiance Geoffery Pakiam were forced to put their cat through surgery when Mr Pakiam developed serious breathing problems from their six-year-old Burmese cat, Mundi.

(Page 1 of 2)The symptoms disappeared after the surgery but the whole procedure was 'heartbreaking' as the couple, in their late 20s, felt guilty for putting Mundi through so much misery.

'I had to choose between the cat and my fiance and I wasn't ready to give up either,' said Ms Lew.

For American Kate Brundage, 50, she, too, refused to give up her golden retriever, despite her 12-year-old son's asthmatic allergies to dog fur, but found a way around it.

Every five weeks, her dog is groomed and has its fur clipped short to prevent shedding. She also does not allow the dog on beds and sweeps up stray fur as often as she can.

The teacher, who moved here last July, said: 'A pet is our responsibility and people should exhaust all avenues before giving up their pet.'

tcheryl@sph.com.sg

This story was first published in thesundaytimes on Nov 16, 2008.

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