My cattle dogs have always been around my kids they are as old as my eldest child. I still watch them for the incase factors but they are all inseparable

Children need to be constantly supervised around pets and we do not leave them alone. Children need to be taught how to interact with pets and pets need to learn how to behave with children and this takes time. We show caution and this works out well for the interaction between them.

when each of my girls were born we had two small dogs (jack russell x mini foxies) – the older one of them was very sensitive and would always be found in my first child’s room under her cot when she was sleeping, if she was one the floor etc he would be constantly by her side and never left her alone until she was big enough to crawl after him lol!

The other dog was more of a “licker” and would want to lick the girls constantly – he was also much younger than the other dog so he was the one we had to watch, but with some simple training he was perfectly fine with them.

I guess each dog though is different and there is always that chance that something could happen, so you do have to be mindful of that and where the dogs are to a certain degree.

I think though having the pets included from the very start is a wonderful thing for both pets and the children – the pets don’t feel left out

We have a small dog which we have around our two kids. To begin with I never left him unattended but with our two year old now, I’m comfortable enough to know they get along fine. I guess it depends on the animal and the toddlers

No, for the absolute safety of the baby, I wouldn’t let too much interaction. And definitely not unsupervised. I love my kids and my dogs too much to even take the chance if something going wrong

We have a dog that have never touched any of our babies. He will occasionally walk up to them and smell them but has never put his nose on them or licked them at all. If one of them cries he has to have a look at them, then walks away.
He’s a strange dog. Others would probably to to lick a baby, but not him.