Lemon - both of our dogs (mine and the foster Support Dog) are Labradors, or Lab Crosses so are pretty docile and loveable anyway (cannot recommend Labs enough, LOVE them!) so if you're looking at dogs, you know which type I'd choose! Not tested C (foster dog) with kids yet, but apparently she has been living with young teenagers for the past year or so, so should be ok around them...obviously littlies/toddlers are a whole different ball game, but O (my pooch) has been brilliant with my 3 year old nephew - he comes to call in the park when L shouts him (it's soooo cute to see) - and he has seen my 5/6 month old neice, and apart from being really interested in sniffing her car seat, he's been fine. I actually can't wait to get pregnant and introduce O to the little one...I think he look after any baby like a puppy even though he's a boy dog. He's such a softy and I think he will love having kids around
although I've already 'child proofed' him, just in case, by getting him used to someone grabbing his tail, pulling his fur, playing with his lips etc...he took it all in his stride and actually seemed to enjoy the attention!
So yeah, Labradors all the way!
Where abouts are you based? I train horses and dogs for a living (well, alongside working part time in a cafe) so if you needed a hand and you're not too far away...you know where I am!
With regards to having a dog before/after a baby, my OH wanted to wait until after but I convinced him that before was better idea as even if I was to get upduffed tomorrow, we would still have 9 months to settle the dog and train them up to be well behaved around kids. O came into our lives back in September (before we decided to TTC) and we haven't looked back since :)