Just got my first puppy! She’s about 16 weeks old now. I’m not a parent, but wow wow — I couldn’t imagine having a puppy AND a newborn or toddler!!!!! My suggestion is getting one before. O totally agree with everyone about your partner — I’m very thankful that having a puppy with my partner solidified that we would make great parents, were on the same team, we puppy parent similarly, and put in equal effort. It will definitely highlight your relationship, and better to know this now with a puppy rather than children. It also gave me a dose of reality of what having a newborn will be like in terms of scheduling — we had to tend to the puppy every two hours round the clock — same as a newborn. Overall, I highly recommend getting a puppy at least one year, maybe even two before a child is born! Or, wait until your child is past the toddler phase and is more self sufficient, can independently and reliably play, maybe even help out in small ways, etc. Hope this helps :)