I went to a seminar last week on natural remedies for dogs with allergies, and in addition to discovering that Jake is a Fire Dog (high energy & very active), I learned about non-pharmaceutical methods to treat allergies based on traditional Chinese medicine. The basic premise is that when a dog (or human) has allergies, their energy, or ch'i, is "hot". So natural remedies are aimed at cooling the ch'i - including feeding certain foods, using herbal supplements, and acupuncture.

I like the idea of using herbal remedies, mainly because I'm not that fond of popping pills myself, much less giving them to my dog.  So far this summer Jake's allergies aren't that bad, just a little corn-cob nibbling of the paws, so I'm hoping herbal supplements will help. 

Fire Dog has already told me that he does not want acupuncture, though.