Year of the Dog Star Molly Shannon, Allergic to Dogs

Filed in archive Pet Allergies on April 19, 2007

In the film Year of the Dog, actress Molly Shannon plays the role of a secretary whose dog died. During the shoot, and even for promotion, Molly naturally had close contact with dogs. But did you know that, in real life, she's actually allergic to dogs?

"I had a german shepherd called Hannibal who could sing opera and then that dog got hit by a car," Shannon glumly recalls, "Then we got another dog after that called Oliver who was a mutt but I developed allergies when I was 12 so we had to get rid of that dog. I was devastated." Errmmm back up there. Shannon has allergies? To Dogs? "I do!" she laughs. "I didn't tell them but we were in pre-production one day and I broke out a little bit because of the dog so I told them and they were like what?!? So I went to an allergy doctor and got all this medication but I never had to use any of it. I'm much more allergic to cats."

So there you go. If she can cope with her pet allergies, you can, too! Visit your allergist to determine what's the best method of allergy treatment for you and how you can manage your allergy symptoms.