Hi. I have a 2month old Cavalier puppy and I'm worried that she's becoming agressive! I know she's really very young so mayb I'm worrying over nothing but I dont want this to esculate (cant spell!!). Basically the problem is that she really really growls when we're playing with her toys, tug of war etc and seems to puropsefully bite our hands instead of  the toys (very hard!) despite being told off. Most the time she is a gorgeous dog (proved today when we took her to town and she licked everyone who came to fuss over her without a single nip, except for me!!). Do you think I should just stop playing the tug of war games cuz if she does this when she's bigger its gonna be frightening! Even when i get rid of the toy she will still growl and go for my hands until I ignore her for a while.
Do you think this is serious or just puppy play?
Cheers for the advice
Jo and Angel (Yer right!)

Going on what you have described in your post, it sounds like excited puppy play to me. If she grabs at your hands, stop the game and walk away. If you keep doing this she will eventually realise that her grabbing ends her fun.

Pups do nip and mouth as you will  no doubt know - take a look at some of the other posts on here! :) :D If the tug games scare you then my advice would be to stop but maybe get some help to understand how to remain in control of the game and to get her to drop on command etc.

Maybe invest in "The perfect puppy" by Gwen Bailey, it's great for this sort of stuff.

Lindsay

She's just a normal puppy, getting exited when you play.  You are right to ignore her if you don't like what she is doing but please don't tell her off.  It will only confuse her and may make her frightened of you.  Try retrieving games instead of tugging games maybe.
Sally

Growling whilst tugging is what dogs do, don't think you say what breed, but it is best with some breeds not to play tug games at all.

Am I right in saying you also have a Wolfhound cross?  Does she play with him unrestricted?  It may be that she's learning different boundaries by playing with him (he may not notice a little nip from a Cavy pup like you or I might). I'd limit the amount of playing they do together or she won't learn how to play 'nicely' with people........

She is a Cavalier and yes we do have a wolfhound cross. They do play together but not alone as Angel winds Mitzy up a bit so I dont want her to get really P'd off and snap back! I think i might just stop the tugging games a bit. I do tell her off when she bites by saying NO and taking my hand away as we have a 4yr old in the house on weekends and i don't want her to bite him as he will get scared of her. Even if she is only playing.