I’m sorry, but I’ve been at the scientific research papers again. At least it saves you doing it!

A Swedish research team has discovered that young children who have a pet dog in the home are much less likely to go on to develop asthma.

JAMA Paediatrics has found that exposure to a dog in the first year of life was linked to a 13% lower risk of asthma in later childhood among the 650,000 children, the authors of the report had tracked.

Their findings support the idea that pets can bolster the immune system and prevent allergy. These findings are pretty controversial - conflicting as they do with other studies and, indeed, current medical thinking.

JAMA admits that further research is needed to confirm its findings and say it would not be wise to get a puppy for an already asthmatic child.

Pets are a common cause of allergy with half of all asthmatic children allergic to cats; and 40% allergic to dogs, according to the charity, Allergy UK.

It is pets’ dander - the shed dead skin and fur - which triggers some asthmas. When animals groom themselves, they lick and skin cells covered in saliva are shed along with loose fur.

“That is 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”, a researcher stated.

The findings of this latest study, in fact, suggest exposure to dog dander and shed fur in infancy might actually be beneficial.

Children who had grown up with a dog in their home were less likely to have asthma at the age of seven than children without dogs.

Those living on a farm with many animals seemed to confer even more protection, cutting the risk of asthma by about 50%.

Head scientist, Professor Tove Fall (whose name sounds like an anagram) from Uppsala University in Sweden, said, "Our results confirmed the farming effect and we also saw that children who grew up with dogs had about 15% less asthma than children without dogs."

She said that this fits the hygiene hypothesis, which favours exposure to dust and dirt to improve tolerance of common allergens.

I’m sure in our modern homes we are frequently over-cautious and too protective. Anyway, these new findings should provide some reassurance for parents who own dogs.

As for blaming dogs for asthma, the research may not have conclusively buried the theory that dogs cause asthma, but perhaps it has put another nail in the coughin’!

On a personal note, though I developed hay fever and then asthma in my mid- twenties, I, thankfully, do not have a dog related allergy.

In those long distant clays, possible sufferers were subjected to a test, whereby various allergens were scratched onto one's forearm and then checked for any subsequent reaction. I indicated an allergy to common grass pollen - though fortunately, not to dog hair.

If this had been the case, I would have had a more remote relationship to our wonderful breed - which, for me at least, would have been great tragedy.

By Tony Roberts.