A new study has suggested that owning a pet dog could help children to avoid developing asthma.

The Swedish study, which involved 650,000 children, found that being exposed to dogs in the first year of life reduced the chances of developing asthma later in childhood by 13 percent.

The findings, which have been published in JAMA Pediatrics, suggest that living with dogs can help to improve children’s immunity, decreasing their risk of developing common childhood illnesses and allergies.

Pets are a common source of allergies, especially in children. The researchers have stressed that it is not advisable to buy a dog if you already know that your child has a pet allergy. However, in cases where children don’t have allergies, the evidence suggests that there can be benefits of living alongside man’s best friend.

Researchers found that babies who lived with dogs were around 15 percent less likely to suffer from asthma at 7 years old than those who had not lived with dogs before. Those who lived on a farm had half the risk, suggesting that exposure to animals can be beneficial for health in some cases.

Uppsala University’s Professor Tove Fall, lead author of the study, said that the results suggested that exposure to animals in early life is linked to a lower risk of asthma later in life. It was also suggested that the findings should give peace of mind to parents who worry about the hygiene aspect of raising children around animals.