A friend of mine has a beautifully behaved, generally spotless GoldenRetriever who is very much part of the family.  This causes problems with her daughter in law who is adamantly opposed to the dog being near her young children. And she is not alone in these unfounded fears: many dogs end up in rescue centres when a new baby arrives in the home.  I suggested my friend showed her daughter in law the latest research from Finland which found that babies who lived with dogs had fewer ear infections, coughs and runny noses and less need of antibiotics. This supports previous findings that youngsters living with pets had a lower risk of allergies - and that a certain amount of exposure to dirt helps the immune systsem mature.