We had a 10 year-old miniature schnauzer when our daughter was born. As soon as she became mobile he started to hate her. He even started snapping at her for no reason other than being ornery. We had to find him a new home. He actually did end up with a big yard in the country to live out his sunset years, so that was nice.

I read a lot about dog/baby interactions around that time. Basically, the prevailing wisdom is that you need to be extremely vigilant. Think of the riddle of getting the wolf, goat, and cabbage across the river with a boat that will only carry yourself and one of those three items.

Your situation doesn't necessarily have to lead to disaster, but you will want to be extremely careful. Getting rid of that dog is one of the hardest things I ever did since he was mine from before we were married, but it was a no-brainer once I saw his attitude toward my daughter.

Two kids, almost 5 and 2. Two pets, a 7yo cat (with claws) and an almost-8yo Bichon.

After our first was born and she was getting around on her own and occasionally being a little rough or otherwise annoying the cat, he would just get up and leave. (Luckily, he's a large cat, around two feet long and 18 pounds. So he can withstand some "overloving".) As she got older, he'd start complaining at her (meowing) before getting up and leaving. Eventually she was old enough that he figured she should know better and didn't get up after complaining, but raised his paw up in warning; she kept bugging him so he bapped her. No claws or anything (he was always very aware that he had his claws and they would hurt, and was very good about not having them out), just a reprimand. She eventually got old enough where she'd bother him a little less and it's the younger one doing it. These days he just gives up and leaves more often than not to go find a quieter part of the house to nap in. Old enough he just doesn't want to hassle with being poked and prodded. But our youngest is actually getting pretty good about gently petting/patting him and giving him gentle "hugs" (he learned from his big sister to "hug" by putting the side of his head on someone), so that's nice.

The dog's never been a problem either, though as a small dog he's a barker. He absolutely loves babies, though, and usually includes them in his "needs protection" circle. Older kids he's not as sure about and will lump them in as "doesn't live here, must bark". For our kids, though, if they're being a bit rough he usually puts up with it, though every once in a while he'll get tired of it and find another seat.

I'm sure we've gotten lucky, but no issues at all with either of our kids and either of our pets.

We had a very ornery cat. When I was pregnant, a friend brought her children over, and we tested the cat's reaction. She avoided the kids, so we figured we were ok.

Once the kid was born and mobile, she would move if she didn't want to be bothered. One day he cornered her, though, and she swiped at him and hissed, and then looked up at me guiltily. He was fine (I don't think she even made contact), but it scared him. I passed him off to his dad, and then went to assure the cat that she was not in trouble. After that, she knew she could do it when she needed to make her point, but she only did it when she had to, and my kids have all learned to have a healthy respect for animals.

We have a dog and are on kid number two. The dog was really good with the first one and definitely decided that he needed protecting. If anyone other then me or my wife picked him up as a baby, the dog would bark and follow very closely.

As he got older, our dog just decided to run away when he got too close. I don't thik that we've had problems even though there's some growling now that he's nearly three and should know better. The dog still gets in trouble for growling.

With our second son, the dog wasn't as protective since she knew what was coming and figured out kids aren't friends. She still loves the face licking, but now uses it as an alternative to biting to try to get him to back away. He's ten months so it is completely ineffective.

We've never had any problems, but our dog has figured out that our sons are members of the family and get full protection.

I bet your dogs were breastfed.