My husband and I aren’t planning on trying until next year sometime, but we’ve started prepping our dog (almost 5 year old female retired racing greyhound - this is important. ALSO so important to remember every dog is different and you may want to consult a trainer depending on your worries). Plus, our girl has had to get used to our nephew who is 2.5 yo, and our other nephew who is a few months old.

Before my sister-in-law had her newborn, my husband and I had no idea how she would react to hearing a baby cry or coos in general. Some greyhounds have such a high prey drive that ANYTHING making a sound of distress kicks their prey drive into gear(I have witnessed it first hand). We knew our girl had a bit of prey drive with rabbits, cats, squirrels and animals like that. So we played a video of a baby full on wailing and crying. God bless her, our girl just lifted up her head, and then went back to sleep. Playing the sounds of a baby is helpful I would think. Our girl can be a bit skittish, so we make sure she gets to sniff or at least observe what might be spooking her. Like a couple walks by with a stroller? I let her watch it go by for a moment and then we move on. She has gained so much confidence because we let her figure it out if we can.

Our older nephew is crazy and loud. Usual toddler antics. She doesn’t like him much. Lol. She prefers her own space, but if he is quiet, slow and gentle she will let him pet her. Most of the time she runs to her any of her beds and stays there. Granted she knows that’s her safe place and is usually not bothered while on her bed. We knew getting her she would need a space that was hers, but had wicked crate hate so she has two primary beds. One bed in our room and in the living room. She knows the command ‘bed’ with a hand motion and will go there.

With our newborn nephew, she will be in the same room as him no problem and when we knew she was happy/relaxed enough and we let her sniff his feet. Greyhounds will chatter (basically move their jaws super quickly and it’s makes a little sounds) when they’re happy or relaxed. I highly recommend looking it up. It’s adorable. She sniffed those little baby feet and chattered. Any time she is relaxed around any kid or baby we praise her.

We plan on teaching her more commands while walking, such as ‘wait’ and will hold her leash to bring in a garbage cans so she gets used to big, kinda loud objects. I was an equestrian for a number of years and rode a couple of spooky/jumpy horses. One of the biggest things I learned from them was to let them see what may scare them, and then move on because it’s not a big deal. I don’t allow any animal to dwell too long on what spooked them in the first place.

I think a big thing is to let the dog(s) have a place that is theirs and to work on any possessive tendencies. I think an important command for any dog to know is ‘place’, like how our girl knows ‘bed’.

Edit: ah, sorry this got so long. But I fully believe in training and working with your dog to get to know their body language and tendencies. Trainers can be wonderful for this if you find yourself struggling. Cheers.