British Heritage Dog Breeds

This isn't meant to be the Irish Water Spaniel Show but I was wondering whether any of the heritage breeds have an unusual "angle" that may help to get them promoted.
Two weeks ago an answer to a question about gundog breeds in Shooting Times prompted me to write in and give a plug for my dear old IWS breed. The question concerned suitable gundog breeds that were suitable for people with allergies.

Well, my response got printed as did a small plug for the IWS as a "hypo-allergenic" breed. The IWS is well known amongst IWS people as possibly being suitable for people with allergies, due to its non shedding and oily coat, and a number of IWS owners that I know have them for this reason. Indeed the KC lists them as such on its find a breed pages on its web site.

In my letter I recounted a recent experience where someone had contacted me for a puppy because she had heard the IWS may be suitable for her as she had a very bad allergy to dogs.
I arranged for her to visit a friend and fellow club member who had two IWS she could "road test" to see if she was affected.
Well the feedback from my friend was that after 2 hours of having 2 IWS climb all over her she was in tears as she had always had a severe reaction after just a couple of minutes.
I also put her in touch with someone who once bred a litter of IWS and still had a 4 year old from the litter. This person allowed the IWS to spend increasing amounts of time with her, including over night. Again, no adverse reaction. Eventually, the lady was given the IWS for herself as she got on so well with it (the breeder had gone on to breeding Labs).

Amazingly, we don't really promote the IWS as a possibility for people with allergies but I think that will change now.

So, do any of the other breeds have an unusual angle that could be exploited?

The Kerry Blue is non-shedding and very soft coated. The coat is a great feature of the breed, some of us would say it's become too important, but it's not really presented as an "angle" or USP.

I think we could do more to give the labradoodles a run for their money but we should be careful when applying the hypo-allergenic tag to non-shedding breeds. It is often "dander" or flakes of skin causes the allergic reaction rather than the hair itself. That said non-shedding dogs do cause fewer allergy issues and they are generally easier on the vacuum cleaner!

Allergies are a complex area and no breed can claim to be 100% hypo-allergenic although one reader of Shooting Times did that recently regarding the Poodle.
Anyone who is allergic should see if they can find a way of determining whether exposure to any particular breed may cause them problems before committing to a breed.

On the KC's find a breed service on its web site the following heritage breeds appear as possibly being suitable for people with allergies:

The Dandie Dinmont
Glem of Imaal terrier
Irish Water Spaniel
Sealyham terrier
Soft Coated Wheaten terrier