Some dogs adapt very quickly to the restrictions of an electric fence so get that installed now. Check with your HOA / City / neighborhood group as to any restrictions on fencing. Take a boat ride along the shore to see what others have done. Drive throughout the neighborhood to see if fencing is present. Older areas such as yours aren't usually welcoming to fencing as it "spoils the look". It will be a few years before your child is old enough to be outside without supervision. Perhaps a modest-sized, fenced play area off to one side of the back yard / side yard will suffice.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions Lindsey! I didn't even think about the county not allowing us to place a fence, you are probably right because they require you to have a permit to even remove a shrub in what is considered 'critical area' where we are at.

The man in the picture you see is cutting back the insane amount of bamboo that has grown, we've been told after cutting back the bamboo for about 5 years it should die off and then we can do a terrain of some sort. He's actually harnessed to the two trees! Our neighbor a few houses down has done that and it does look very pretty. We do have a ramp that leads down to the pier and boathouse to the right of the picture.

We have already hired a dog trainer to help teach our dogs about new boundaries and of course interacting with our infant. Hopefully we will not have any troubles if we choose to go the underground fence route.

Any suggestions on what sort of shrubs to plant if we end up doing that? When you immediately walk out the back door there is a large deck, and we plan on putting a gate up there so that our son can't leave the deck. I just worry that one day someone may accidentally leave it open!

Thanks for the suggestions chiflipper. I believe some of the older homes do have chainlink fences, but they are pretty unsightly. The neighborhood is a big mixed bag of older smaller homes (think 2 bed 1 bath) and newer builds (10-15 years old). Our home was built on a double lot after 2 homes were torn down. There is a community play area at the end of our road, maybe this will be enough for us until we can teach our son some boundaries.

This would be my suggestion. Put temporary fencing in for piece of mind. Deer fencing is not unsightly and you can put it in by yourselves. By the time they are 6 you won't need it anymore.

I agree with above poster to try and keep it as open as possible. But if you must have a fence, framed welded wire mesh between nice cedar posts looks sharp and preserves the view.