What would you do if you had to choose...

Between a girlfriend or boyfriend that was allergic to dogs and your dogs. Would you keep the dogs and get another BF or GF or would you rehome your dogs.

For me I would choose the dog

Depends on who came first. If a man came into my life and expected me to rehome my dog because he is a shedding, drooling dog beast he wouldn't get passed the first date. I refused to give Bandit the boot when my ex and I were still together. Infact, when he tried kicking him off the bed I kindly pointed to the dog bed on the floor and told him if he didn't like the dog he could sleep on that.

But if we got a dog and learned he had insufferable allergies, he was amazing and yadda yadda I'd rehome the dog.

If the dog (or cat) was there first, the dog/cat stays.

I know several people who are either allergic or have significant others who are allergic (but not severely); and they make the effort to keep everyone comfortable (in one case, the cats get weekly baths to cut down on the dander) so they can keep their animals.

are me and this guy just dating? or is this the love of my life?

if this guy is the LOVE OF MY LIFE, totally perfect match, head over heels, I want to spend the rest of my life with you and we have been together for a LONG TIME.. than I dunno... that would be a toughie.

lol im just going to be honest here..
If I lived with the LOVE OF MY LIFE and everything was GREAT AND AWESOME and I was totally in love and all of a sudden he developed severe allergies and NOTHING we tried worked,AND I was sure I could find homes where my pets would be happy, then I'm pretty sure I would know my decision.

We would do ANYTHING in our power to make it work with the dog/cat of course. grooming appointments, air purifyers, medication etc.. but if NONE of it worked and his allergies were SEVERE than I will admit that ya, for the love of my life, rehoming my animal would be considered.. not lightly of course.

but if my animal could be happy with another home and I could NEVER be happy with another guy..
its not a decision I would take lightly of course, my pets are an important part of my life and I love them. but if I knew I could find them GOOD homes where they would be happy... thats what I would do. It would still suck and still be a heartwrenching decision to make, but to give up the love of my life and someone to spend the rest of my life with would hurt a hell of a lot more I think..
Maybe its the hopeless romantic in me.. but in my eyes true love does kind of conquer all.

Plus I know my animals.. I guess it would be different if I had the kind of pets that would NEVER be happy without me but, especially with Romeo, he is happy in ANY situation with basically anyone, he is very biddable and adapts very well. I KNOW if I looked I could find him a home where he would be 100% happy.

Now, if this guy was all like "well just get rid of it!" or doesn't want to try or compromise to keep the animals or hates animals totally than obviously he isn't the guy of my dreams and hes a douche sooo getting rid of my animals would not even be an option. I wouldn't even be dating him lol

If the question was like "The guy of your dreams or throw you animals in a shelter" now that would be a different story. I'm sorry but my dogs mean so much more to me than throwing them in a shelter and hoping for the best. I would have to find AMAZING homes where they were happy or no dice. the guy would get to spend some time at the holiday inn

Oh and for some guy I'm dating if things are 100% serious/perfect? heck no. It would have to be a SERIOUS relationship. There would have to be a ring on my finger for me to change my life that drastically. and he would have to be willing to try and make it work..
He would have to get it. You know what I mean? He would have to be the kind of guy that totally understood the relationship I have with my pets. no its not "just a dog". If he understood that and we tried EVERYTHING and I was honestly in love and knew this was my soulmate and I was SURE I could find my pets happy homes then.. well like I said, rehoming my pets would probably be the choice.

I guess it would be situational, but honestly I don't think anyone who could ever ask for Daisy to be rehomed could ever be considered my soul mate... I will only entertain men who cuddle her and kiss her and let her sleep between us in bed, much like myself Daisy's my world, any man who doesn't understand that doesn't make it past the front door.

Obviously if he's already living with Daisy, what's a bunch more? lol

I will be totally honest here: not having a dog is not an option for me, and most of the breeds that are low allergen aren't breeds I'm very interested in... so if a guy is allergic to dogs, he's pretty clearly not the guy for me.

And it doesn't even have to be a question of "who came first" because the dog is already here to stay, so he's pretty clearly the one who's here first!

Allergy treatments would be mandatory.

This would never be a issue. Ryan wouldnt stand for the cat or dogs to leave. we would deal with it.

Same here. If one of us developed an allergy to the dogs, we would find a way to make things work.

I told Matt when we started dating that if he didn't like Murphy it was game over. Lol. And I wasn't talking about allergies. I won't be/live with someone who won't treat my dog(s) the way I treat my dog(s). If he suddenly developed allergies....I think he'd have to get weekly shots or something cause I'm not giving up my dogs.

I think a more relevant question for a lot of people on here is: What would you do if you had a kid that was allergic to dogs? I have a friend who found out when her daughter was 2 that the kid was REALLY allergic to their dogs. The doctor told her she needed to get rid of the dogs and she was like hmmmm....NO. So the doctor says the dogs need to be outside all the time. No again. The doctor says well we can try this allergy medication and see if that works. The allergy meds worked great, they still have their dogs and one of them sleeps with the little girl (she's 9 now) every single night. I imagine my reaction would be pretty similar in that situation.

I could not be happy without a dog. I could be happy without a boyfriend or a girlfriend..obviously so that is pretty much the answer.

Also..after doing kennel work half my life I ended up seriously allergic to dogs. The doc said he never saw such a reaction. I burst into tears when he told me they would have to go. I took shots, for a couple years. I keep my dogs super clean, they have short coats and are easy to wash with my shampoo and creme rinse. They do not bother me a bit. Dirty dogs will always stuff me up and make me feel quite ill, but that's an easy fix isnt' it? CLean dogs are nice to pet and don't make everything smell bad too. So if I had a child that was allergic, I think if this works for me, it would work for them. Having furniture that is not over stuffed, and if I had my way no carpet would help too. THere are things you CAN do.

I'm married...getting a new husband isn't an option.

When dating, it was a requirement that my SO like animals. Didn't necessarily need to be dogs (I had a rabbit at the time), but something fuzzy was always going to be in my life.

Boyfriend/girlfriend would go, soulmate or not. Animals are my passion and my reason for living; it makes me feel weird just spending the night with a friend who doesn't have any pets.

Exactly what beanie said.

I even had a boyfriend I was going to move to another city with and he then told me that Izzie needed to live outside in a dog house and I promptly said no effing way.

No pets is not an option for me. I have never done it, and I never will.

Exactly what I was going to say.

I think I'm with Fran. If I HAD to choose... between THE ONE, and my pets (after he obligingly exhausted every option)... I would choose the man... but it would literally be mental torture. I've lived with a house full of pets all my life. I love pets in the house. Unless I had a farm I wouldn't have an outdoor dog... so I would likely be dogless for the rest of my life... UGH. I've thought of this before and it's hard. Like, if I was truly happy with the guy... but could I ever be really happy with that compromise...?

lol poor answer but it boggles me.

Hopefully, in reality it would go like Paige described it; first date, oh you're allergic? Darn, guess this isn't going to work then! And it would never get to the point of me being torn like that. But then if that was my soulmate, and I would actually choose him over the pets... then wouldn't it be better to pursue it regardless? lol I HATE THIS QUESTION.

If someone is allergic to dogs, I don't see why we'd even start dating.

Same. I don't see it ever getting to the point where I'd have to decide between the 'one' and my dogs because that would probably be a deal breaker early on.

And similarly I'm not interested in any (except maybe one) of the low allergen type breeds.

I was allergic to cats when I started dating my boyfriend, who has two cats. I started taking allergy meds, but they didn't really do much, so I stopped taking them. After some unpleasantness for a few months or so, my allergies went away.

I would not get serious with a person that was allergic to animals though.