Preparing Your Dog for a New Baby

The mistake is doing everything at once when the baby comes home. If the dog's world changes abruptly on the same day a new creature appears, the dog connects the two. Start early and stagger it.

Months before

Move furniture and change routines now. If the dog's bed needs to move, move it three months early. If walk times will change, change them now.
Set up the baby equipment early — cot, pram, changing table — so it is boring by the time it matters. Practise walking with the empty pram.
Teach the skills you will need: a solid "go to your bed" and stay, "leave it", four paws on the floor instead of jumping, and settling calmly while you are busy with something else.
Play recordings of baby crying quietly, paired with treats, building up over weeks.
Create a dog-only space the baby will never access, and make it excellent.
Get the vet check done — a dog in pain is far more likely to react badly to a grabbing toddler. Sort out dental, ears and joints now.

The homecoming

Have someone else carry the baby in while you greet the dog normally, because your dog has missed you. Let the dog sniff the air near the baby from a comfortable distance while the baby is held. Do not force a face-to-face introduction. Bringing a blanket home from the hospital ahead of time is a common suggestion and does no harm.

The rules that are not negotiable

Never leave a dog and a baby or small child alone together, not for a second, whatever the dog and whatever the history. Most bites to children are from the family's own dog, in the home, and they happen in the moment the adult stepped into the kitchen.

Use baby gates and playpens so supervision is structural rather than dependent on your attention. Never let a child climb on, hug, or lie on the dog — those are the specific behaviours that precede most facial bites.

Keep the dog's life good

Walks still happen. Attention still happens, ideally when the baby is present so the dog associates the baby with good things rather than with exile. A dog that gets ignored for six months and then meets a mobile toddler is a dog set up to fail.

Watch for the signals

Lip licking, yawning, turning away, whale eye and leaving the room are all your dog asking for space. Respect them every time. If your dog growls at the baby, do not punish it — that is critical information. Separate, and get a behaviourist involved immediately.