Hi there,
I am in my third trimester & am in the "worrying about everything" stage...

I was talking to a work colleague yesterday, who when she had her first bubba, put the dog "outside" and didn't pat him ever again, nor get any more pets until the kids were over 5 years of age. The idea behind this was that dogs bring dirt and germs into the house (which they do!) and she didn't want to risk exposure to the new baby.

Now, IMO my furbabies were there first, have been allowed to sleep inside (not on the bed), gets lots of cuddles etc and if I just chuck them outside and throw their lives into chaos, I would be being cruel to them! What I want to do is gradually introduce the dogs to baby, allowing them to sniff him, be in his presence during tummy time(supervised of course!) as they are family, so is he! I think that as long as you don't let the dogs slobber all over baby and wash hands before feeding etc, that all "should" be fine.

Am I doing the wrong thing by the baby that's on the way, in thinking that the dogs can keep their lifestyles as they know them as much as possible? Or should I be looking at a total upheaval of how we treat the dogs?