Weekly monitoring of 368 Finnish children through the first year of life found that those from families with dogs had fewer respiratory infections and required fewer courses of antibiotics. Three dog-associated bacterial genera explained 25% of the protective effect. Protection may also be provided by aspects of the dog-owning lifestyle.

Summary: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-early-dog-exposure-babies-infections.html

Original paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pai.70408

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