Please hold off on snarky comments. Just asking all you dear FReepers if you have had issues like this and how did it end up.
If its just a mild allergic reaction the child may build up an immunity but obviously consulting a doctor is the way to go.
I was allergic to baby chicks when I was little but I couldn’t leave them alone and got used to them.
Has the toddler been around any dogs before even a little bit?
The dog is going to have to go.
Bathe the puppy as frequently as possible and limit the toddler’s exposure to the puppy’s bedding.
Well, you have a very difficult choice to make. Which do you like more? The very expensive child or the cute puppy?
You could try over-the-counter allergy meds to see if that is enough to ease the symptoms, and see if the child gets over the reaction. I developed a pretty bad allergy to cats when I was younger. Stayed away from them for years, but then I spent some time at a friend’s house who had a cat, and he gave me some Claritin that worked wonders. After having spent some time around that cat, with the help of antihistamines, I have never had much of a reaction to any others.
It could go either way though. Often, exposure just makes allergies worse, but it can also build up a resistance. I think the key might be that the exposure needs to be sporadic, like allergists do when they treat allergies by exposing people to small doses occasionally. So, maybe keep the dog outside the house and only allow the child to play with it once in a while, to see if that helps?
Perhaps it’s a chocolate allergy? Maybe a yellow (butterscotch) lab would work?
Call the police!!! They’ll take care of bidness without you having to say a word since police just loooooooooooooooove doggies.
Just kidding.
Trade the lab for a poodle.
Getting a doctor’s opinion is excellent advice. Also check for allergies to something the dog may be getting into. He may not be allergic to the dog, but to something on the dog (flea powder, dog shampoo, pollen the dog picked up on it’s walk, etc.) If it’s only when the dog licks him, maybe there’s something in the dog’s food, which would be in the dog’s saliva, that is triggering a reaction.
Get a non-allergenic dog.
Hubby had a reaction to one dog we wanted. We couldn’t get it. We found a poodle mix that hubby has been good with.
Get rid of the kid
depends on how bad things are.
try to avoid snuggling with the pup, and keeping the pup out of your kids bedroom.
wash hands after petting the dog
vacuum frequently with a vac with a hepafilter
consider a hepafilter air cleaner for the kid’s room
if all of those don’t improve things, then you may have a tough choice to make. don’t know what the impact of allergy medicine is on a toddler, or if there are allergy shots recommended for toddlers - I’d ask the Doc
My granddaughter is allergic to cats, dogs, goats, cattle and who knows what else. The only solution besides 24/7 allergy medicine that we’ve found is a poodle.
My son has severe allergies. He was fine around my roommate’s chinchillas until we brought them out of the cage. The poor things were so nervous that they shed some of their beautiful coat. At that point, my son had a severe reaction.
It could be the anxiety that the puppy is going through that generates the release of fur/proteins/endorphins/stress hormones/dandruff/whatever and that’s what the child is allergic to. There could be a test to see if this is the case. See if the child, in the middle of the night when the puppy is asleep, has the same reaction. Basically, when the puppy isn’t anxious.