diff --git a/mlxtend/utils/checking.py b/mlxtend/utils/checking.py
index 38ef1e635..35ba53cd7 100644
--- a/mlxtend/utils/checking.py
+++ b/mlxtend/utils/checking.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ def check_Xy(X, y, y_int=True):
     if not isinstance(y, np.ndarray):
         raise ValueError("y must be a NumPy array. Found %s" % type(y))
 
-    if "int" not in str(y.dtype):
+    if y_int and "int" not in str(y.dtype):
         raise ValueError(
             "y must be an integer array. Found %s. "
             "Try passing the array as y.astype(np.int_)" % y.dtype