[user104658]

Leaving them alone is almost irrelevant: a dog can kill a child in seconds whether you're there or not. There was a news story recently, about a dog entering a room while the mother was right next to her daughter at her bed, and the dog still managed to kill the child. They are strong animals with strong jaws - once they bite down even a large adult might be unable to stop them. Or they could kill before an adult even has time to run across a room.

Dogs are safe pets because they are pack animals and because they recognise that they are further down the pecking order than the humans in the house and because the humans have safe predictable ways of interactive with them. Babies and toddlers are new to them, and they are inherently unpredictable in their actions. they might hug a dog - they might yank on its tail, or scream in its face. They make them nervous, and a nervous dog (ANY nervous dog) is a dangerous dog. My friends mum was badly bitten (chunk out of her arm) by her gentle, playful, never-hurt-a-fly Labrador that she'd had for 7 years because his little cousin had wound the dog up to breaking point. It was very sorry afterwards, but in that second, it still happened, and if it had been a child's neck it would have been another news story.

Dogs and small children don't mix. Period. Most of the time they'll probably make it though those early years just fine and be best of friends, yes. When a child is old enough to interact with a dog properly, having one as a pet is a wonderful experience. But, the RISK with little babies and toddlers is just too grave. A dog is not your friend, your confidant or your child. it is an animal with very sharp teeth. People humanize them and forget this, they believe that the dog loves them and cares for them... in the way that a person does.

If you're having a baby, the dog has to go. It's the only way to be "safe".