Are some people really allergic to dogs? If so, what happens if you’re on a bus and you are allergic to dogs and someone else has a service dog?
Not quite as many as are allergic to cats, but yes, some people are allergic to dogs. If an allergic person was to encounter a service dog in public and that dog was of a breed they were allergic to, they may well be exposed to the allergen and have a reaction. The severity of that reaction would differ depending upon individual circumstances (how allergic they were, how much allergen they were exposed to etc).
My wife is allergic to dogs. She can be around a dog for a few hours without a problem, but if she lives with one she develops headaches/itchy eyes/runny nose/etc.
I am allergic to dogs, and reactions can vary. One time at a party the dog of the house (large, I don’t know what breed) walked through the house once and a few minutes later I could hardly breathe from asthma. After I moved away from my parents’ home my mother got a poodle, and whenever I visited it would take a few hours before I had a reaction.
I think in a bus, for example, there is enough fresh air that a reaction would take longer. If someone with a service dog sat next to me, I would probably excuse myself and move somewhere else in the bus as politely as I could, and I wouldn’t expect to have a reaction. If it were a subway, I would probably move further away or to another car.
Roddy
I’m allergic to cats but to have a reaction I usually have to have had touched the cat then touched my eyes/nose/mouth or touched a surface the cat had been on (sofa, chair, bed, etc.) and touched my eyes/nose/mouth.
Either that or the cats hair/dander has to be immediately in my breathing space like someone brushing a cat near me.
Are some people really allergic to pollen? If so, what happens if you’re on a bus and you are allergic to pollen and the bus driver opens the door to let on a passenger, thus wafting in pollen-laden air to the bus?