Essential safety advice for dogs and babies: 6 key tips

Welcoming a new baby to your family brings joy and excitement, but having a dog at home means preparation and vigilance are essential for safety. Dogs often form strong bonds with the youngest family members, sometimes even becoming protective. However, it's important to approach dog and baby introductions thoughtfully to keep everyone safe.

1. Conditioning Your Dog Before Baby’s Arrival

Your dog's first encounter with a baby shouldn’t be the day you bring your newborn home. Instead, gradually prepare your dog for the changes ahead.

1. Introduce baby sounds in a controlled way, such as playing recordings of crying, rewarding calm behaviour with praise and treats.
2. Familiarise your dog with baby items like the crib, pushchair, bedding, and clothes. These items often have new, unfamiliar scents that can unsettle dogs.
3. Expose your dog to the baby’s scent by bringing home a blanket or clothing before the baby’s arrival. Since the baby will smell like their parents, this can ease acceptance.
4. Work on obedience training to ensure your dog responds reliably to commands like "sit," "stay," and "leave it," which will be crucial once the baby is home.

For more detailed advice about introducing your dog to your new baby, visit here.

2. Managing Day-to-Day Life with a Dog and Baby

The arrival of a baby disrupts the household routine, and your dog may feel unsettled or jealous. To help your dog adjust:

• Maintain your dog’s daily routine for feeding, walks, and playtime to provide stability.
• Ensure your dog receives enough attention and affection to reduce feelings of neglect.
• Watch for signs of jealousy or stress, such as whining, barking, or destructive behaviour, and address these early.
• If you ever doubt your dog’s reliability around the baby, do not leave them unsupervised together and seek professional advice promptly.

3. Safety When Your Baby Becomes Mobile

As your baby starts crawling, standing, and walking, the dynamic changes dramatically. Your baby can now approach your dog independently, which means ongoing management is vital:

1. Never leave your dog and baby alone together, even if your dog is well-behaved and calm. Experts unanimously recommend constant supervision.
2. Physically separate the baby and dog when you cannot watch them, using baby gates or playpens.
3. Be cautious with baby equipment like swings and play mats; avoid leaving your baby unattended with a dog nearby as the dog could unintentionally cause harm.
4. Reassess safety measures regularly as your child grows and their ability to move increases.

4. Understand Unexpected Risks

While serious attacks are thankfully very rare, other risks can be less obvious but still concerning:

• Dogs jumping up on a cot or pram may accidentally topple it, risking injury to the baby.
• Excessive licking from dogs may irritate the baby's skin or introduce germs.
• Dogs taking or chewing baby toys can pose choking or hygiene hazards.

Being aware of such risks helps you stay vigilant without unnecessary anxiety.

5. Positive Training and Boundaries

Training your dog before and after your baby’s arrival sets a foundation for peaceful coexistence:

• Teach your dog to respect boundaries, such as staying out of the nursery if that is your plan.
• Use only positive reinforcement techniques to build calm, confident behaviour.
• Continue regular obedience training and provide plenty of mental stimulation and exercise to reduce stress and prevent behavioural problems.

6. When to Seek Professional Help

If you notice any worrying behaviour from your dog, such as aggression, anxiety, or unwillingness to follow commands, seek help immediately from a qualified dog trainer or behaviourist. Early intervention is key to preventing incidents and maintaining a safe environment for your baby and dog alike.

Understanding the Real Risk: Dog Bite Statistics

Dog bites to children are more common than many parents realise. Research cited by the RSPCA indicates that children are statistically the group most likely to be bitten by a dog, and crucially, the majority of bites happen at home with a dog the child knows — not with a stranger’s dog in a public place. Dogs Trust data suggests that up to 91% of dog bites to children occur at home with a familiar dog.

This does not mean family dogs are inherently dangerous — it reflects the fact that children spend most time around the family dog and that even well-loved, well-trained dogs can bite if they feel cornered, in pain, or pushed past their tolerance threshold. The key lesson from the statistics is that supervision and education are more important than breed or size: any dog can bite under the right circumstances, and responsible management by adults reduces the risk significantly.

Teaching Children How to Behave Around Dogs Safely

Children communicate very differently from adults — they move unpredictably, shout, grab, and seek close facial contact. All of these behaviours can be threatening or overwhelming to a dog that has not been habituated to children. Teaching children appropriate behaviour around dogs from the earliest age is as important as managing the dog itself.

Key rules to teach children include: never approach a dog when it is eating, sleeping, or playing with a toy; never hug a dog around the neck or put their face close to a dog’s face; always ask the owner before touching an unfamiliar dog; give the dog space to move away and do not follow it; and speak calmly and move slowly around dogs. Dogs Trust’s “ABCs of being a dog’s best friend” — Affection shown in ways dogs understand, Being busy gives the dog space, and Choice for the dog at all times — provides a child-friendly framework for these rules.

Reading Your Dog’s Warning Signs

One of the most important safety skills for any parent is learning to recognise when a dog is uncomfortable before it reaches the point of biting. Dogs rarely bite without warning — they communicate discomfort through a sequence of increasingly obvious signals that are often missed or misinterpreted.

Early warning signals include: turning the head away, licking lips, yawning when not tired, showing the whites of the eyes (“whale eye”), and moving away from the child. If these subtle signals are ignored, a dog may escalate to stiffening, growling, snapping, or biting. A dog that growls is not being aggressive for no reason — it is communicating that it has reached its limit. Never punish growling, as this removes the dog’s early warning system and makes a bite more likely without warning.

If your dog regularly shows any of these signals when around your baby or child, consult a qualified behaviourist promptly. With the right support, many dogs can be helped to feel more comfortable and safe around children, reducing the risk of incidents for everyone in the household.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do before bringing my baby home to a dog?

Prepare your dog gradually: introduce baby sounds and smells, establish any new household rules in advance, ensure your dog is responsive to basic commands, and bring home a blanket with the baby’s scent before the baby arrives. Maintain your dog’s routine to reduce stress.

Is it safe to have a dog and a baby in the same house?

Yes, with appropriate management. The golden rule is never to leave a baby or young child unsupervised with any dog, regardless of breed or temperament. Use baby gates and playpens to create safe separation when you cannot actively supervise, and teach children safe behaviour around dogs as they grow.