I hear this one a lot and it has never been a concern of mine.

When our first was born we had two doggies. We did get rid of one but mostly because he wasn't getting enough attention. I found him a much better home and they are still happy with him. We did keep our older dog. He made a great floor cleaner after meal times. Haha.

I have a pooch now and i wouldn't get rid of him if we had another baby. He loves babies. He has been around the little girl i watch since she was 3 months old. He has never once done anything aggressive toward her and she even tickles him all the time. He sits outside her sleeping room and when she wakes he comes and whimpers at my feet.

I say just wait and see how the dog does. It's not absolutely necessary to get rid of a family pet.

Remember after the baby is born take a blanket to the hospital the first day and let the baby sleep in it. Then take it home and give it to the doggy. Let the doggy sniff on it before the baby comes home.

__________________
Jodie....Wife to Andrew (1995)
Mommy to Riley (2000) and Wyatt (2003)

We have a Maltese Shi Tzu mix, female. Before our DD (now 17 months) arrived, I bought a CD that had normal baby sounds (crying, babbling, etc) and would play it so the dog would be used to the sounds. When our DD arrived, we let the dog sniff her blanket first and I gave the dog attention (without the baby) when we got home. Then, I picked up the baby to let the dog know she was important to me. Muffin sniffed the baby and that was that. She has been very gentle with her (even when DD was actually kind of rough). DD has now learned how to be gentle. The dog has never bitten or even snapped at our DD, even though DD would try to take food out of the dog's mouth and would sometimes pet her too roughly. I still never leave them completely alone, as Muffin is still a dog. I love her but I am not naive to the fact that the Muffin could possibly bite DD or anyone else simply because that is just one of the ways a dog protects itself or reacts when afraid. I also don't allow DD to do things that annoy our dog, so Muffin won't feel "backed into a corner".

We never dreamed of getting rid of our pets. We have two cats and a golden retreiver. The cats really don't care much for the baby, but the dog is really anxious to play with him. He loves to lick his toes! I have to watch the dog and the baby, only because he's so active! He would never hurt him! He's actually very protective of all of us! Pets are not a problem, as long as they are trained!

Nope You would not give away an older child because you are having a new one. SO unless there is a problem there is no reason to get rid of your other family members your pets As long as you give time for everyone to adjust your pets and kids will be fine.

We were also very careful as the kids grew up to teach to respect the animals. Our dog is 15 and I've had him longer than my kids! LOL! He loves the kids though and he's very protective of them.

I would never dream of getting rid of a family pet just because a new baby was coming into the household unless there was some reason to worry for the new baby.