@Lovelace:
Moses, the basenji, is only around the baby when someone is there holding him. Otherwise they are seperated by a gate or screen. We let them sniff (on occasion lick! yuck)each other thru the "pack&play" screen. Even then I guess someone is usually monitoring them.
Well, let's see…I think you could probably let the Basenji be around the baby whenever there is a grown up (or teen?) in the room...unless the dog has shown you he is uncomfortable around babies.
We have two almost 11 month olds (can y'all believe it!) and our dogs are around them all the time, when we are in the room, at least. Mostly the dogs ignore the babies, unless there is something irresistable dripping out of their mouths! The dogs all have a fairly responsive "leave it" command, and we use it if they try to lick the babies...but occasionally they will get in a couple slurps (particularly Blondie, Bella and Hippo).
We have always just been of the school of thought that it is better for all to get used to each other...sometimes the babies get knocked over, and sometimes the dogs get a little pinch...but they are all fine with that. We supervise always, and we have pretty well behaved dogs (for the most part!). I think if you try to keep Moses away from the baby too much, you will end up creating a situation where the dog is really crazed to get to the baby, or nervous about the baby...you kind of want him to feel like 'okay this thing is part of our pack now, no big deal'
How do your older kids demonstrate that they are dominant to the dog?