20 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Had a “Hypoallergenic” Dog”

We created this list of essential things that we found out by working with holistic vets that made the biggest positive impact on Swayze’s life.

Special thank you to Dr Ihor Basko, Dr. Peter Dobias, Dr Jake Brown, Dr. Meghan Barrett, Dr. Judy Morgan, Dr. Pamela Dragos, and the many other holistic and alternative practitioners we learned from!

To find a holistic health professional near you, visit: https://www.ahvma.org/find-a-holistic-veterinarian/

When people hear hypoallergenic dog, they usually think: less shedding, less dander, easier dog.

What I wish someone had told me is that many of these dogs, especially poodles and poodle mixes, can actually require more intentional care, not less.

Their hair needs attention. Their ears and skin are sensitive. Their teeth matter. Their digestion affects far more than their stomach. Their little bodies need care. And because they can't tell us what's happening in words, learning their signals matters.

We learned a lot of this through experience, sometimes the hard way.

The good news? Being proactive is so much easier than being reactive. These are the things we wish we'd known from the beginning.

1. Find a holistic or integrative veterinarian before you need one.

This might be the most important thing on this entire list. Don't wait until your dog is sick to figure out who you trust. We prefer working with a licensed holistic or integrative veterinarian who looks at the whole dog:

Nutrition, gut microbiome, skin, environment, movement, nervous system, lifestyle, medical history, and conventional diagnostics when they're needed.

Holistic medicine doesn't mean rejecting modern medicine. The American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association describes it as considering the whole patient and seeking root causes while integrating conventional treatments, diagnostics, surgery and complementary approaches when appropriate.

It's about using the right intervention when it's genuinely needed while continuing to ask: Why is this happening?

Before automatically reaching for an antibiotic, or medication to cover the symptom, we want to understand what we're treating, whether medication is actually necessary and whether there is an underlying cause that needs attention.

Dr. Peter Dobias is one of our favorite resources. He is an integrative veterinarian with more than three decades of experience spanning conventional and integrative small animal medicine.

Where to start:AHVMA Holistic VetFinder

Resource:Dr. Peter Dobias, DVM

2. Start with the gut. Food really is medicine.

This is probably the lesson we learned the hardest way.

For years, we fed Swayze kibble because we didn't know any better. We thought we were doing the right thing. Eventually, she became extremely sick. She spent several days in the ICU and was ultimately diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease through a biopsy. It was terrifying.

Afterward, we found a holistic vet, and we slowly transitioned her from kibble to fresh, human-grade food and her health transformed.

The signs of disease disappeared. Even the specialist caring for her, who practiced from a much more conventional Western perspective, was surprised by the transformation. It wasn’t in her practice to understand why or how diet shifted everything.

That experience fundamentally changed how we thought about feeding dogs, and it led us to change care to a holistic veterinarian.

It taught us something we have never forgotten: Food is medicine.

Kibble is convenient, but convenience and optimal nutrition aren't necessarily the same thing. Kibble is highly processed and inflammatory, and relies substantially on corn, starches and carbohydrates. As one holistic vet told us, “it’s like humans eating flaming hot Cheetos for every meal. Over and over again.” It isn’t actually food.

Dr. Dobias strongly advocates fresh raw or cooked food over dry processed food. His writing also emphasizes the relationship between nutrition, the microbiome and whole-body health.

This is our experience. What we know is what happened afterward and how profoundly changing her nutrition changed her health.

If you decide to change food, don't abruptly switch it. Titrate it.

Go slowly. Give the digestive system and microbiome time to adjust.

Once your dog is established on fresh food, dietary variety matters too. Introduce different appropriate proteins and whole foods over time rather than feeding exactly the same ingredients indefinitely.

And pay attention to poop. Seriously.

Consistency, frequency, mucus, unusual colors and sudden changes are some of the easiest everyday clues into what's happening in the digestive system. A healthy stool should be well-formed, moist but firm, consistently brown, and easy to pick up without leaving much residue behind. It should hold its shape without being overly hard, dry, loose, greasy, or coated in mucus.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias on transitioning away from kibble

Also:Dr. Dobias on processed food

3. Support the nutritional foundation.

Even when feeding fresh, human-grade or dehydrated food, look at the diet as a whole. Some foundational areas worth discussing with your holistic veterinarian include:

• A canine-specific probiotic and prebiotic for the microbiome.

• EPA and DHA omega-3s for the skin, coat, brain, joints and healthy inflammatory response.

• Appropriate whole-food vitamin, mineral and amino acid support when the diet actually needs it.

• Dr. Dobias' nutritional foundation includes GutSense, FeelGood Omega, GreenMin and SoulFood. His site describes these as gut support, omega-3s, mineral and amino acid support, and fermented whole-food multivitamin support.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias' nutrition and supplement resources

4. Let real food be treats and enrichment too.

Treats don't always need to come out of a bag. Depending on the dog and their digestion, small portions of whole foods can make wonderful treats:

Blueberries, Blackberries, Cucumber, Zucchini, Carrots, Green beans, Leafy greens, small amounts of seedless, rind-free watermelon.

Dr. Dobias specifically recommends many of these foods. He also recommends introducing new foods gradually and choosing pesticide-free produce.

Food puzzles, sniffing games and opportunities to forage and problem solve are enrichment too. A dog doesn't always need more physical exercise, sometimes they need to use their nose and brain.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias on grass, fruits and vegetables for dogs

5. Skin, paws and ears are messengers, especially yeast.

Pink inflamed skin. Paw licking. Redness between the toes. Recurrent ear irritation. A yeasty smell. Greasy skin. Itching. Don't just ask: “What can I put on this?" Also ask: "Why is this happening?"

Malassezia yeast normally lives on canine skin. Problems occur when conditions allow it to overgrow. You'll commonly notice problems around the ears, paws, between the paw pads and in warm skin folds.

Dr. Dobias emphasizes that recurring yeast is secondary to underlying causes, rather than simply being a surface problem to repeatedly suppress. Repeatedly treating yeast without asking why the skin became vulnerable can create an endless cycle.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias' 7 Step Natural Treatment Plan for Skin Yeast Infections

6. Wipe the outside world off of them.

After grass, walks, parks or the beach, wipe the paws, legs and belly or body with a damp, fragrance-free cloth or rinse with plain water when needed. Think about everything they encounter:

Pollen, grass, dust, lawn treatments, environmental debris, salt, and sand.

Then they come home and lick their paws. After the beach, check carefully between the toes and underneath their hair. Rinse away salt and sand and dry thoroughly. It's such a simple habit that made a massive difference for Swayze.

And if something is in the paw, epsom salt baths were a game-changer to draw out the gunk. She loved soaking her paws.

Related reading:Dr. Dobias on environmental and health factors behind allergies

7. Keep their environment simple and safe.

Fragrance-free everything! Fragrance is an irritant to their sensitive skin and is unnecessary. Fragrance-free shampoo, fragrance-free laundry products, and gentle nontoxic household cleaners.

Stainless-steel or glass food and water bowls instead of plastic. Stainless steel or glass bowls are preferable to plastic because plastic can develop microscopic scratches that trap food residue, saliva and bacteria, making it impossible to thoroughly clean. Stainless steel is nonporous, durable and easy to disinfect, and it also avoids potential exposure to chemicals or additives that can be present in plastics.

Dogs have extraordinarily sensitive noses and spend much of their lives close to floors, furniture and fabrics. Then they lick their paws and bodies. It all is ingested. Simple is usually enough.

Related resource:Dr. Dobias' holistic dog health library

8. Protect the neck. Use a harness for walks.

This is something I wish every new dog owner knew. We don't attach the leash to the neck collar. We use a properly fitted harness.

The neck houses the cervical spine, nerves, blood vessels, thyroid and other important structures. Repeated pulling or sudden jerking through a collar places unnecessary force through this area.

Dr. Dobias has written for years about cervical injuries and their potential effects elsewhere in the body. More recently, he has proposed chronic neck trauma as a potentially modifiable contributor to disease processes, including cancer biology, based on his clinical observations and emerging research.

That does not establish that collars cause cancer. Cancer is multifactorial but unnecessary neck pressure is something we can easily avoid.

A light collar for identification. Properly fitted harness for the leash.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias on the Collar and Cancer Connection

Also:Dr. Dobias on throat and neck injuries from leashes

9. Make eating physically comfortable.

Some dogs absolutely inhale their food and water, then burp afterward. If your dog does this, experiment with bringing the bowl up to a comfortable height closer to their face and neck rather than requiring them to reach far down. Swayze ate her food off a yoga block. It was the perfect height!

A slow feeder, calm mealtimes and smaller portions may help a gulper too. If burping is frequent or accompanied by vomiting, regurgitation, abdominal discomfort or bloating, that's different and deserves veterinary attention.

Related reading:Dr. Dobias on feeding dogs and healthy mealtimes

10. Massage them, and don't underestimate cool therapy.

This is one of our favorite parts of caring for dogs. Massages! Paw massages, shoulder massages, hind-leg massages, gentle back massages.

Massage can be deeply relaxing, and regularly putting your hands on your dog teaches you what their normal body feels like. You'll notice tightness, tenderness, swelling, lumps or an area they suddenly don't want touched much sooner.

For an acutely sore muscle or joint, appropriately used cold therapy can also be soothing. Dr. Dobias recommends icing during the first 24 hours of an acute muscle, joint or tendon injury.

We've used a soft human neck ice pack wrapped completely in a towel. We let Swayze curl up beside it, or while supervised, gently rest the wrapped pack against an appropriate sore area. The back of her neck was her favorite.

Never put an ice pack directly against their skin and always use a towel or other protective barrier. Keep it brief and comfortable, supervise, and let your dog move away whenever they want.

Persistent pain, limping or neck discomfort needs veterinary evaluation.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias' first aid guide for injured and limping dogs

11. Be thoughtful about flea and tick chemicals.

We choose not to use conventional chemical flea and tick medications. That doesn't mean ignoring parasites. Fleas, ticks and tick-borne illnesses can be serious. It means choosing prevention based on your dog's actual geography, lifestyle and exposure.

Dr. Dobias offers plant-based prevention products including FleaHex and TickHex as alternatives for people seeking to minimize conventional pesticide exposure.

For lower-risk dogs whose lives consist mostly of neighborhood walks, maintained parks and everyday city environments rather than hiking through heavy tick habitat, BioPower Pet Shield is our personal favorite.

In higher-risk environments, physical tick checks and a prevention strategy appropriate for the local disease risk are especially important.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias on flea product toxicity and natural prevention

Prevention products:Dr. Dobias' Flea and Tick Control collection

12. Coconut oil is our little multipurpose salve!

We keep good-quality coconut oil around for minor external skin support. A tiny amount can be useful on minor superficial scrapes, bug bites, dry spots, paws irritated from licking, and small areas of irritated external skin, including external skin around the vulva when it becomes mildly red or irritated.

Coconut oil contains fatty acids, particularly lauric acid. Coconut-derived compounds have demonstrated antimicrobial activity in laboratory research. That doesn't make coconut oil a cure for every bacterial or yeast infection, but it helps explain why it can be a useful supportive topical.

Dr. Dobias also discusses adding small amounts of coconut to a dog's diet. Dietary coconut oil isn't automatically appropriate for every dog, though, particularly dogs with digestive or pancreatic problems, and it's calorie dense.

Persistent itching, discharge, infection, wounds or recurring vulvar, paw or skin inflammation should be investigated rather than repeatedly covered with coconut oil.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias on coconut and coconut oil for dogs

13. Poodle mix grooming isn't optional. They have hair, like us.

This is a big one. Poodles and many poodle mixes have continuously growing, hair-like coats. Think about what would happen if you had long curly hair and constantly rubbed a collar or harness against it without thoroughly combing it. You'd eventually get dreadlocks and that's essentially what mats are.

Friction makes certain areas especially vulnerable, so regularly check behind the ears, around the neck, underneath the collar, under harness straps, inside the armpits, and between and behind the legs.

Don't just brush the surface. Comb all the way down to the skin. Mats aren't simply cosmetic. They continuously pull against the skin and can be genuinely painful. They can also trap pollen, dust, moisture, sand, environmental allergens and debris against the skin, exactly where you don't want those things sitting on a sensitive dog.

Once matting becomes severe, brushing it out can hurt so much that the only humane option for the groomer is often to shave it off. Staying ahead of those little tangles is much easier, and much kinder.

Related reading:Dr. Dobias' natural dog health library

14. Be picky about chew toys.

Chewing is healthy. Eating the toy isn't. We avoid plastic and hard nylon chews and prefer simple, unscented options without artificial fragrance, flavoring or unnecessary dyes. We also avoid extremely hard chews that could damage teeth.

We also always supervise. Some dogs don't merely play with stuffed animals. They perform brain surgery on the stuffed giraffe, pull out the squeaker, stuffing, rope fibers or pieces of fabric, and some will swallow them.

Our rule is simple: Appropriately soft. Big enough not to swallow. Unscented. Simple. Supervised.

Related reading:Dr. Dobias' puppy care and development guide

15. Protect their little bodies.

Repeatedly launching off beds and couches onto hard floors creates unnecessary impact. Small dogs can be prone to joint problems, so notice limping, hesitation before jumping, stiffness or that funny little “back-leg skip.”

The characteristic “back leg skip” can be a sign of a luxating patella, where the kneecap temporarily slips out of its normal groove in the femur. A dog may suddenly lift the affected hind leg for a few steps, skip or hop, and then resume walking normally once the kneecap moves back into position; repeated episodes should be evaluated by a veterinarian.

Use stairs or ramps where appropriate. Movement should build the body rather than repeatedly traumatize it.

Dr. Dobias emphasizes prevention and early recognition of joint inflammation, rather than waiting until mobility problems become severe.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias on preventing joint problems in dogs

16. Let them sleep.

Dogs, especially puppies, need an enormous amount of sleep. Deep sleep and REM support development, learning, memory and recovery.

Give them somewhere they feel completely safe. A sound machine or calming music can help some sensitive puppies settle and mask unfamiliar environmental noises. Swayze loved the sound machine.

Let that little nervous system rest.

Related reading:Dr. Dobias' puppy care and healthy development guide

17. No to Steroids.

Steroids can rapidly suppress inflammation but suppressing inflammation isn't necessarily the same thing as addressing why the body is inflamed.

Dr. Dobias takes a strong position on corticosteroids and describes avoiding them whenever possible because of their systemic and immune-suppressing effects.

That's one reason we want a holistic veterinarian asking: Why is the skin inflamed? Why are the ears irritated? Why is the dog itching? Why is the gut reacting?

There are medical conditions and emergencies where steroids can be appropriate or lifesaving.

The principle is simple: understand why before automatically suppressing the signal.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias on steroids and their side effects in dogs

18. Antibiotics aren't harmless either.

Antibiotics save lives when they're genuinely needed but they also affect the microbiome. That's why we don't want an antibiotic automatically prescribed for every upset stomach, skin problem or episode of diarrhea.

Metronidazole deserves particular attention. It's frequently prescribed for diarrhea, but diarrhea itself doesn't automatically mean there's a bacterial infection requiring an antimicrobial.

Ask: What are we treating? Do we know there's a bacterial infection? Does my dog actually need this medication? How will we support the microbiome afterward?

The goal isn't to declare antibiotics universally bad. It's to use them when they're actually indicated rather than reflexively.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias on protecting the microbiome during and after antibiotics

Also:Dr. Dobias on metronidazole and the canine gut

19. Your dog knows things you don't.

This may be the biggest lesson. Dogs are extraordinarily intelligent observers of their bodies and environments. Dr. Dobias similarly describes dogs as smart, responsive and remarkably tuned into their circumstances.

If your dog suddenly doesn't want to eat:

Notice

If they don't want to walk on the grass:

Notice

If they're licking one paw:

Notice

If they don't want you touching somewhere:

Notice

If they're suddenly restless or can't deeply sleep:

Notice

If they suddenly become clingy or withdrawn:

Notice

We don't have to immediately decide why. We simply respect the communication enough to become curious instead of overriding it. Dogs don't have our vocabulary their behavior is part of their language.

Learn more:Dr. Dobias on what dogs know about keeping themselves healthy

Also:Dr. Dobias on how dogs think and experience the world

20. Know your dog.

Learn what their normal poop looks like. Their normal appetite. Their normal skin color. How their ears smell. How they walk. Where they sleep. What they love. What they avoid. Then you'll notice when something changes.

It's much easier to support health proactively than to wait until a little signal becomes a big problem.

The Takeaways:

Feed them well. Keep things simple. Protect their gut, neck and joints. Care for their coat, teeth, ears and paws. Massage them. Let them sleep deeply. Give them plenty of love and safety.

And most importantly: Listen to them. They are communicating all the time. 🤍

Keep learning:Dr. Peter Dobias' Natural Healing Blog for Dogs