Dogs that are aggressive when approached while eating or in possession of a bone, toy, or other favorite item or those that are aggressive if startled or when awakened require very close supervision in the presence of a baby. The most potentially dangerous situations involve predatory responses. This point is of special importance if the dog has had little or no exposure to infants. It is important to realize that exposure to and interaction with small children is not the same as exposure to and interaction with an infant. If your dog plays in a friendly, gentle manner with children, it cannot be assumed that the dog will react the same way to an infant.
Infants are very different from children.
Few infants are severely injured by dogs, and the number of infants killed by dogs is very small, probably no more than 10 per year throughout the entire United States. In contrast, many thousands of infants in the U.S are victims of automobile accidents, burns, drowning, choking, suffocation, and poisoning. It has also been estimated that each day in the U.S one child under 10 years of age is killed in a handgun accident. Despite the small risk, there is still cause for concern about a dog's reaction to your infant and precautions are well worthwhile. The interaction between infants and dogs that have questionable histories should be monitored very carefully over a long period.