I no longer play with Joey

Good points mudpuppy.  I do play tug with Sally every so often, but it doesn't hold her interest as long as it used to.  It really helped her "drop it" though.  As soon as she realized failure to drop = no more tug, she got quite good at it.

I have almost the same problem, been dating this wonderful guy over three months, always got along with his not fixed basset hound who is turning two soon.  We belly rub, wrestle, play with his face but he is possessive about things.  Warning bit me when I tried to get a dead bird from him - jumped up to do it.  The other night I fed him and noticed he knocked a few morsels out so I picked them up one at a time and was throwing them back in the bowl, on the fourth one he bit me - a meaning to bite, got my finger good. I told him bad boy and he growled, I stayed out there staring him down telling him no bad boy for a while, the growl got lower, then I told him if he was going to be in my life, he couldn't do that and asked if he was sorry, he came over and licked my toe and we loved on each other.  The next day we were rubbing the eye boogers off him and loving on him and he started growling again and went under his daddy's arm.  I went into the house and he has on and off growled since. He wants me to come and see him because he whines outside the door when I come home and I had clearly been his favorite for a while between the two of us.  I don't wear different clothes, smell different, have different hair, or is either of us having problems or are stressed.  I don't hit him and every animal but him has loved me.  I have two little dogs of my own  that are well behaved.  He tried to eat my boy pom, they both think I am theirs.  My dogs are kept at my house, but have visited twice and not even lately.  Boyfriend roughhouses with him, they roll around on the porch and dog chews on him and jumps on his back when he is sitting down and stands with his head above his head.  I think since I have challenged his authority he is peeved.  Dunno, we should get him fixed next week but boyfriend doesn't want to get rid of him unless it is absolutely necessary - ie. he bites again.  I know where ya'll are coming from and believe the command thing is the right step forward. Sit before eating, don't aggressive play, I want to pet him but for right now, I can only look through the door and fence at him, it breaks my heart.

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

I don't consider Tug to be rough-housing at all, nor is it dangerous or aggression-evoking. Rough housing to me is actually physically wrestling with the dog, and allowing the dog to play-bite humans. Tug can be scary to some people because the dogs often growl and seem to be acting aggressively-- but it's PLAY.
If you set a few ground rules Tug is one of the best ways to teach a dog self-control. Rule 1) if dog's teeth hit human flesh game ends; Rule 2) dog only grabs at tug toy if given the command (get it, tug, bite), Rule 3) dog releases tug toy on command (out, drop it, break). So you can "activate" the dog, work the dog into a frenzy, and "deactivate" the dog, and the "activate" the dog again. Most dogs, even very young puppies, catch onto the rules very quickly because the reward, the game, is of such high-value to most dogs they'll do anything for it.

 
That's good advice Mudpuppy.  I define rough housing the same way you do - rolling around on the floor and pushing and pinning - every thing my husband loves doing with him that I'm not comfortable with.  I do like to tug with him though and we follow the same rules - he grabs my hand and games over.  With a high pitched "ouch" to show him Mom's hurt.