Change the Routine Gradually, Not Overnight
Dogs cope best with a new baby when most of the lifestyle change has already happened before the baby comes home. Walks may move to different times, some rooms may become gated, and your attention will be divided in ways your dog cannot yet predict. Introduce those shifts in small steps during the months before the birth: vary walk times a little, practise the new feeding spot if bowls need to move, and let your dog get used to spending relaxed time behind a gate or on a mat while you are busy in the same room.
Protect the parts of your dog's day that matter most. If the morning walk is your dog's anchor, plan now for who keeps that walk going in the first weeks, whether that is a partner, a family member, or a trusted walker. A dog whose exercise, food, and sleep stay roughly steady is far better placed to accept the strange new sounds and smells arriving in the house.
Practise the Equipment and the Sounds
Let your dog investigate baby equipment as it appears, one piece at a time, rewarding calm sniffing and then asking for distance. Walk your dog beside the empty pram on quiet streets so the wheels, the width, and the new walking position become boring before there is a baby in it. Practise carrying and settling with a wrapped doll, so your dog learns that your arms being full means settle on the mat, not jump up to see what you are holding.
Play recordings of baby cries at very low volume during relaxed moments, pairing the sound with treats and calm praise, and raise the volume only across many short sessions. Keep the volume modest if your dog shows worry at any stage, ears back, pacing, or leaving the room, and go back a step. The goal is a dog who hears a cry and looks to you for the familiar routine, not a dog who has been flooded into silence.
Set Boundaries Around Sleep and Supervision
Decide now where your dog sleeps, where the baby sleeps, and how those spaces are separated, and teach the boundary kindly before it matters. A gate your dog already respects, a mat just outside the nursery, and a clear rule that the dog is never left alone with the baby, however gentle the dog has always been, protect everyone without drama. Gentle dogs still startle in sleep, and babies grab ears and fur without intent, so supervision is a permanent house rule, not a comment on your dog's character.
Also plan the homecoming itself. Let your dog greet the returning parent first, without the baby, so that excitement is spent. Then introduce the baby's scent through a worn blanket, and finally a calm, brief meeting at a distance, with your dog on a lead held by a relaxed adult, free to move away at any point.
Write the plan down for the first weeks
The first weeks run on broken sleep, which is exactly when routines get forgotten and two tired adults give a dog opposite instructions. Write the dog's plan down: walk times, who feeds, where the dog settles during feeds and nappy changes, and which signals mean the dog needs a break from visitors. Relatives you select can open that profile under KinsLe Family Sharing.