Does playing rough instill bad habits
 

I got my Amstaff, Kita, when I was young, single and no kids. I use to rough house with her since she was a pup. It was fine until I got married and had her around young children. She would never intentionally hurt them but she would always take her play up a level where she could knock over an adult. My question is, did my rough play make her aggressive when playing? In the future (next dog) should I have a more "disciplined" play?

Does playing rough instill bad habits
 

It depends on the dog. My boy tugs his ass off with me but when I give the tug to my God son he hardly tugs at all. He knows my god sons limits. My god daughter picks up the tug (she is older) and he tugs harder with her. That's just my experience with my dog. I trained my dog "easy" which means slow down and relax a little don't be so crazy. It's a good thing to amp dogs up and then have them calm down so they know it's possible. Then amp them up again and calm, etc. So they learn the fun doesn't stop just for being "easy"

I don't think it does. I rough house with my dogs all the time. As long as you reach your dog boundaries and to heed you when you say "enough is enough".

I agree. And each dog has his/her own boundaries........."enough is enough", as I'm sure like with children, may be a different level for each dog. It can be very enlightening when you discover the threshold....and something you will respect for the remainder of your dog's life. One of my dogs is easy, until really pushed. My other dog let me know fast that he doesn't take sh*t, so we now have an understanding LOL. You know, I remember the first time my father took me to the shooting range, and let me squeeze the trigger on his .45. I learned real quick how to respect a firearm, and what it was capable of. There are a couple of rules that apply to these dogs, and really for other dogs as well. Rule # 1.....never trust a bulldog.
Rule # 2......these dogs aren't for everyone. Too bad many don't follow the rules:(

Kita enjoyed playing hard and rough with everyone. It wasn't a problem when I was young and not around children all the time. I will have a new approach with my next dog.

I play rough with my boy, we wrestle with him mouthing my hands and arms until the teeth start to bother me. He is very good about the "enough" command, and he will only play that rough with adults who initiate play and escalate it to that level. He is gentle around kids.

:goodpost: ditto for me and my dogs. Rough play is something they look forward to every evening and will try to initiate it.

Joe