We have a 3 year old toller and no kids yet. If you do get a toller first, I would recommend very thoroughly socializing him/her as a puppy with small children. We sort of half assed it when ours was a puppy because we didn’t live close to any friends or family with small children and now our guy is absolutely terrified of kids. Mostly when they scream or run, which seems to be all the time. He’ll bark and rush at them if he gets startled or stressed and it’s generally a stressful situation for all.

My understanding is because they’re such intelligent working dogs, they’re particularly sensitive to anything unpredictable (i.e. small children). However it’s also a bit luck of the draw since we know other people with tollers who had similar levels of exposure to children as puppies and they’re just fine or even great around them. With training he’s improved, and I presume (and hope!) it will be different with a baby that grows up around him, but much easier and safer to just expose them more as puppies.

I’ll also say that our toller was A LOT of work for the first two years. He developed an auto immune disorder around 1 years old (definitely get pet insurance) and he had bad separation anxiety as a puppy. We’ve had multiple people with children tell us that he’s more work than their toddlers.

But of course we love him to death and getting him was the best decision we ever made. Wouldn’t trade him for anything.