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We have two slightly (read: very) spoiled dogs 9.5 lbs and 22 lbs (same litter and age so they are literally brother and sister, which makes training them so difficult because they only want to listen to eachother and not us!). When I was pregnant they would lay near my belly. You could tell they knew something was up and a year later they are pretty good with DS, even when he tries to pull their hair!

We did all of the above that you meantioned. You may need to sneak out some clothing/blankets/baby cap from the hospital. I forgot to ask for the baby blanket as our midwife suggested and when I did the nurse said we are not allowed to take those things due to bodily fluids issues. She said I could have his first cap, but the nurse who bathed him wouldn't let me have that either. I ended up digging it out of the trash (I wan'ted it as a keepsake anyway!) and we also barrowed (stole..oops) one of the wrap around baby shirts for the dogs.

My vet also recommend installing a screen door for the entrance into the nursery so the dogs could always see you and/or the baby and not feel left out. We didn't install a screen door, but we did install an infant gate that swings open easily (make sure your dog can't jump it). We never have DS's door shut and I believe it really has helped with the dogs (they are very attached to us if we leave a room etc so this way they always feel apart of the room).

Our dogs never went after the diapers because we use cloth and we also use a step on trash can (simplehuman) that's self closing, but my friends dog distroys their diapers (Our dogs would have because they did when we tried to use pee pads with them). I would at least consider getting a trash can or diaper pail the dog cannot get into, even knocked over.

We have a similar situation, and other than playing baby noises from itunes, what you have done is about all we did. Our dog sleeps just fine on the bed on the occasional nights that we co-sleep with the baby.

We have a dog gate that I put up the first day on the nursery door (I would recommend doing this sooner, so you can get your dog used to it!) but we only used it the first day, and haven't needed it since.

Our dog loves the baby, and other than being super excited the first day, everything has fallen into place. Fortunately it takes babies time to become mobile, so I'm not worried about pulling tails and stuff yet.

We have two small (also spoiled despite our being super strict with them) dogs that used to sleep in the bed with us almost every night. We actually continued that until we realized how much dust their fur was causing upstairs, so now they're downstairs almost 100% of the time. Every now and then we'll let them sleep in the bed with us.

They have an area in the kitchen that's fenced off and we keep them in there most of the day until RJ goes to bed, unless we're both home. Then we let them roam free.

We got a second dog so they can keep each other company, and that's been great for when the baby came. I suspect when the second baby comes they'll be relegated to the kitchen for most of the day again. But they've been pretty good about it. We do have to be careful because one of them loves to eat crayons and the other is a little snippy, but so far it's nothing we haven't been able to handle.

@artbee: lol Classic!

@regberadaisy: We too have a very VERY spoiled dog (lab/pit bull mix who also sleeps with us every night) and we did just about everything you did to acclimate him. A few other things Id do - start laying some baby toys around and some stuffed animals. If you plan on using Dreft or some other baby detergent, wash the stuffed animals in that so if the dog appraches them thinking they are his toys, he learns that whatever smells like that is off limits. Put up the bouncy chair or swing and playmat or whatever else you plan to have set up so the dog is used to it and not going over the first second its setup. When we first assembled everything, Brutus was all "whats this? ooh, whats this? Whats THAT?! oooh fun!" and it was super invasive. Then two days later he got bored, but I wouldnt have wanted to deal with that while holding a baby.

Also to note-our hospital had no problem with letting us take blankets/caps/shirts etc home.We told them we had a dog and needed them for the scent and they let us take whatever we wanted. That being said, I had a c-sec, so I didnt get the bloody stuff, but I did get the first cap and several blankets and kimono tops.

We didnt put up any gates, but we were told that if you are going to do that, make sure you do it several weeks in advance if you can because you want to avoid the dog realizing that all these new limitations are because of the baby, which can cause resentment. I know it sounds too personified, but our dog is our baby too, and he totally got jealous.

It is an adjustmnet, but when LO gets a bit older and shrieks with laughter whenever the dog walks in is totally worth it,.