We have two dogs and we were worried about the dogs dealing with the baby. We had a trainer who came to our house. She picked up a doll from Goodwill to practice with the dogs. That's what we ended up using. It was an ugly doll...
We didn't have a carseat safety class. I would recommend taking notes or making sure they provide handouts or a very useful / easy to understand website. In my state - the law had changed since DD was born and now you have to be a certain height or weight (and maybe age) to outgrow car seats. Many parents were upset because they had to put their kids back in booster seats. I even knew a 9 year old who had to sit a booster seat. Anyway - it's confusing and I need to read up on it again (and again)...