Having a dog may help your child avoid asthma

If you’re undecided about whether to buy your child a puppy, here’s your incentive.

New research published in the journal JAMA Paediatrics has found young children with a pet dog in their home are less likely to develop asthma. The findings from Sweden support the idea that exposing children to pets from a young age can boost their immune system and prevent allergies.

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While pets may have the potential to prevent allergies, experts warn that buying a puppy for a child who is already allergic to dogs is not a good idea and that more evidence is needed.

During the study experts looked at over 367,600 preschool aged and over 276,200 school aged students and discovered a possible benefit being around dogs and farm animals.

Exposure to dogs during the first year of life was linked to a 13 per cent lower risk of asthma in school aged children and farm animal exposure was linked to a 52 per cent lower risk for school aged children and a 31 per cent lower risk amongst preschool aged kids. “Our results confirmed the farming effect and we also saw that children who grew up with dogs had about 15 per cent less asthma than children without dogs," lead study author Professor Tove Fall said.

Researchers couldn’t determine why children exposed to dogs or farm animals were less likely to develop asthma. They hypothesise that lack of exposure to germs or microbes during childhood could lead to more allergies, and that exposure could result in a more robust immune system.

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“That’s important information for parents who are pregnant or are planning to have a baby, they should not worry about getting a dog or a puppy if they would like to,” she said.

“But if you have an allergic child you should not get a dog to cure your child. It won’t work and will probably make the allergy worse.”

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