[sganow]

One of the first things we did when we brought a baby home (we had 7 kids) was to unwrap them and lay them on a blanket on the floor and let the dogs check them out any way they wanted to. They sniffed, licked lightly, whatever they wanted. Our dogs were gentle in nature anyway though. More often than not, once they finished checking the baby out, and let me tell you it took them awhile, they would lay down next to the baby. After that, nobody messed with their kid! The dogs were never told to stay away from the baby. They knew the baby was part of the family and belonged there. We also remained attentive with the dogs so they wouldn't feel they are being left out.