I was never worried about having a dog and a newborn in the same room. I read a million and one articles that discussed and highlighted the dangerous of allowing a dog and newborn cohabiting. I can say with confidence that 90% of those article were rubbish and scaremongering.

Our puppy Oscar is now 14 months old, he is legend, he would never hurt anyone or anything... not even a fly! Since he has been home he has been a saint, he has become Theo's guardian! If Theo is crying he will sit at beside his Moses-basket and wait for us to check on him. When we are changing Theo's nappy the dog sits along side the changing-mat, he is as good as gold.

One of the best piece of advice I have taken from all the books and articles I read was that you need to give your dog and baby the time to bond. We let Oscar stay at our parents for one week, this gave us enough time to get the baby into a routine and change the furniture around to accommodate the various contraptions parents need to house and care for a baby these days.

During that week we kept on bringing Oscar back into the home introducing him to Theo's furniture and scent. We even laid Theo on a blanket for one night and the day after placed to in the dogs basket to sleep with so he could grow even more accustom to the smell of our newborn.

I honestly have no worries in my mind about the dog and the baby. I honestly believe that if you have a well trained family pet it is easy to introduce them to the baby and not get jealous. I think the story's of dog bites and deaths in the media has almost cast a shadow over pet owners with kids. I personally believe that it is breed of the dog and their past experiences that cause these deaths and if you own a dangers breed tat is likely to injury anyone then god no keep your family well away from it at all times. Don't let your kids near the thing!

If you have a dog and are expecting your first child, please don't go online and asking 'should i keep my pet away from my newborn'. Ask questions in forums about your dogs breed, general advice is good but it is always best to understand your dogs behaviour and character before you let the dog loose in your home with a newborn.

You will find that your dog will more than likely want to lick your child. This is normal (so i have read) it is important to know that you never let them lick your newborn as their immune systems wont be established enough to cope with an infection past on from your dog.

A dog is for life, we loves ours. I would consider investing in a stair-gate, we have and we use it to keep Oscar in the kitchen so when we do get a 5 minutes break we can sleep!

If you have any questions please do comment and let me know.