Rebecca,
It's hard to know where to start. Have you had the Chessie long? Do you work him, ie. is he a retriever for you? Do you know anything about Chessies?
Here's what I know about the Chesapeake Bay Retriever; they are the hardest of the retrieving dogs, they are also on the upper end of possessiveness and territorial drive, they have a natural aggression that surprises people that think 'retriever' eguals willing compliance. I've met more then one that would be candidates for a ppd except for a clear head.
So, as others have opined your child needs to be protected....The child came after the dog. From the dogs point of view it's an interloper, a Chessie is not going to take it laying down. If the dog is a working dog for you it'll make things somewhat easier, if the dog is a companion however it'll be a bit harder but not anything you can't over come.
Let us know how things stand, perhaps we can help.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

Sometimes I wonder if my crack habit is effecting my comprehension skills.

I'm not sure why I was thinking this was a puppy.

My initial advice is still seperation; beyond that, I can't recommend anything else without more backstory.

Hello!
Squirt is a 5 year old recently (within the past year) neuteured male. My husband adopted him when he was 1, which is also when I met the dog (this was before we were married). So, he obviously came before our son. We were concerned about having a baby around him because of his history. We assumed that either he would not tolerate the baby or be ultra protective of him.
Squirt has an interesting personality in that he is the dominant dog, and will act aggressive towards people that try to come in our yard who he doesn't know. However, he is a nervous and sometimes timid seeming dog. One bark from my husband and he is peeing and rolling over his back and acting very scared. We have never beat him. When we brought our baby home, we let both the dogs sniff him and smell his blankets and whatnot. That was about all there was to the acclimation session. Our pitbull slept at the foot of his swing for the first week, while Squirt retreated and almost distanced himself from us. That has been the story up until now. Since this happened, no dogs are allowed in the upstairs of our home (where the bedrooms are) or in the living room if Sam is playing. We crate them at night, and are in process of getting a kennel set up. Then I found this website and am now trying to get some resources to work with him.

Thanks for the advice. We are being very very cautious!

Hello!
Squirt is a 5 year old recently (within the past year) neuteured male. My husband adopted him when he was 1, which is also when I met the dog (this was before we were married). So, he obviously came before our son. We were concerned about having a baby around him because of his history. We assumed that either he would not tolerate the baby or be ultra protective of him.
Squirt has an interesting personality in that he is the dominant dog, and will act aggressive towards people that try to come in our yard who he doesn't know. However, he is a nervous and sometimes timid seeming dog. One bark from my husband and he is peeing and rolling over his back and acting very scared. We have never beat him. When we brought our baby home, we let both the dogs sniff him and smell his blankets and whatnot. That was about all there was to the acclimation session. Our pitbull slept at the foot of his swing for the first week, while Squirt retreated and almost distanced himself from us. That has been the story up until now. Since this happened, no dogs are allowed in the upstairs of our home (where the bedrooms are) or in the living room if Sam is playing. We crate them at night, and are in process of getting a kennel set up. Then I found this website and am now trying to get some resources to work with him.

Also, I would classify him as more of a companion that a working dog. Our intention was to use him for duck hunting, but he turned out to be incurably gun shy, hence, the companion dog. He is overall very good natured and wanting to please. Of course he hasn't gotten the same attention/activity since Sam was born...

The breeder we got him from has been educating both my husband and I over the last few years about the breed, what they are prone to, the fact that they are demanding dogs, etc.

Obviously the dog is a part of our family and it would be difficult to get rid of him, but I would certainly do it for the sake of my kiddo. Our answer for now has been to set up a kennel and try and work with Squirt at an activity, to give him something to do.

If we give him back the breeder and she works with him and he bites someone again, he will be euthanized (he probably deserves it, but is really a good dog...)

The sad part to me is that by the time our son is old enough to assert himself with the dog, the dog will probably have one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel.

And, as I am new to this, do I respond to everyone, or will everyone see this post?? Thank you all for your advice!!!!

Rebecca,

Thanks for the info and yes when you post back everyone can read it.

JMHO here but I would set up baby gates between rooms where the dog and the kiddo are. Not let them interact - period. IF they happen to be in the same room together then either the kiddo is on someone's hip or the dog is tethered to someone's hip. The two shouldn't meet.

Beyond that, maybe some groundwork reinforcement - re-establish yourselves as the pack leaders and make sure the dog knows that kiddo is off limits.

A good "Dogs and Kids" primer from the folks here at Leerburg:

http://leerburg.com/dogs-babies.htm

 Quote: Rebecca Eckert

Hello!
Squirt is a 5 year old recently (within the past year) neuteured male. My husband adopted him when he was 1, which is also when I met the dog (this was before we were married). So, he obviously came before our son.

Since this happened, no dogs are allowed in the upstairs of our home (where the bedrooms are) or in the living room if Sam is playing. We crate them at night, and are in process of getting a kennel set up. Then I found this website and am now trying to get some resources to work with him.

Thanks Rebecca, this is both excellent backstory, and good to hear (about you using caution, separating and using crates). Don't be afraid to crate dogs during the day either - the crate is a safe place FOR the dog, and a safe place to PUT the dog if there are kids around (just be sure no one's fingers can reach through the crate).

I will leave actual training and behavior work for this dog up to those who are more experienced, but I'm glad to hear you're taking good precautions. And, Squirt might have the best name... ever.

~Natalya

I have a 10 month old daughter and reading your post makes me really nervous.
I'm glad you're being cautious and trying to prevent any mishaps by keeping the dog from the baby's bedroom and out of the room your baby plays in. Kudos for that!

For the first few months after we brought our daughter home, our first two dogs (Shaed and Otto) were, I will admit, kind of left out of things. They didn't get all our attention and Shaed was a little standoffish. Otto wanted to be right there in the middle of everything. About the 2nd months into being a family, we started getting back into a groove with our dogs and started managing our time with them and our daughter. They immediately bounced back from their funk. That's when we thought it'd be fun to get another puppy...she's the giant in my sig pic....that's another story

Your chessie might be feeling a bit left out and maybe he hasn't had enough interaction/attention/exercise that he needs. Managing dogs and kids can be very tricky business, but with the right help (...ehem, leerburg...) and a little effort, things can change and you won't have to stress about having your dog take a chunk out of your kid.

Hello all,
Thank you for all of your advice and support. I have been working with Squirt a lot this week and he is being very obedient and listening well, although he tried to nip at our son again through a baby gate.
My neighbor approached me today (we share a driveway and they have many many grandchildren frequently running around) that Squirt came out of his electric fenced area and charged both herself and her husband. For some reason our fence had malfunctioned and not let off the signifying beeps to let us know.
This makes me soooo nervous and I feel let down. We are now considering giving him up...we just don't know how to deal with it. If we lived in an area where we had space and not many visitors it would be one thing, but we don't. He obeys us well, but I feel as though he can't be in the house unsupervised, he can't be in the yard unsupervised, and I'm afraid if he went out to a kennel for the rest of his days we wouldn't work with him enough because of our new kiddo.
Any more wisdom to share? Thanks again for all the help.
Becky