gsp female puppy being aggresive

Question
Me and my wife recently bought a gsp female puppy , she is 11 weeks old now,she is doing pretty good with the housebreaking ,just has a few accidents here and there, but we are worried about her being a little too aggresive. We have a 2 year old son in the house and 2 male cats. She is constantly playfighting with 1 of the cats sometimes they get very aggresive with each other and when i go to break it up she snaps at me and whines and seems uncontrolable. Will this make her an aggresive dog when she gets older?She also jumps and bites at our sons hands and clothes , not very hard just playfuly but it still leaves marks on him, i try constantly to say "stop it" or "no" in a stern voice but she keeps going back. When she is not around the cats she seems a little more docile, its pretty much just when she is playing with the cat is when she snaps and whines and seems very aggresive. I dont really want to keep them separted cause i want them to get used to each other. Any suggestions of what to do?

Answer
Hi

Young pups play hard and so the playfighting can get out of hand.  I would probably let the cats and the puppy work it out.  The cat will let her know when it is time to stop.  Trying to separate 2 enthusiastic playmates can be bad for your health and especially your fingers.   As long as she doesn't go crazy when you are playing with her I wouldn't worry about her being too aggressive.  HOWEVER, I would strongly recommend puppy classes with her, she needs to be taught bite inhibition and some manners.   Frequent consistent sessions at home will have her trained in no time.   

As for the toddler, never leave a young child alone with a dog or puppy.   As cute as she is, she considers the child as a playmate... another puppy so to speak.   So of course she is going to jump on him and nip and try to play.  She is not being aggressive, this is normal, although undesirable. The interaction between them at this stage of the pups development must be controlled.   Young pups are alot of work and require constant vigilance and patience.   I would recommend crate training for housetraining and time outs, or naps.   this way you don't have to worry about baby and puppy or cats and puppy if you are preoccupied.

My 2 pups are about 16 weeks old, a boy and a girl, that I am raising right now.  Even their mother won't intervene when they get too rough with each other.   It looks and sounds like they are trying to kill each other but they are just playing really rough.  

They are learning and have learned bite inhibition from each other and from the older dogs.  ie if you bite too hard, the older dog will reprimand you - and that really hurts!  If you bite your littermate too hard, they won't play with you anymore.

Hope this helps, you can do a followup questiion if you need too.

Lori