nippie & whining boarder collie mix

Question
We have a new boarder collie mix puppy who is 6 months old.  She is very sweet most of the time but if we run or if she gets excited she will jump and bite us hard(we will clap loudly, yell no, turn around).  Usually after a couple of times she will stop.  We have a three year old who is getting scared of her.  She will jump of top of him, biting him and making the Grrrr sound, shaking her head from side to side.  It is very scary to us and we can get her off of our son pretty quickly.  I don't understand if she is trying to hurt or if it's inappropriate play.  We take her on three walks a day and play with her as well.  We are pretty much always home with her as well.  I don't know if this is a puppy thing or if it will grow progressively worse as she gets older. We have had her for 4 weeks now.
My second question is about her constant whining.  We used to crate her in our bedroom but she would stay up most of the night whining to get out.  We tried ignoring completley the first couple of nights with little luck.  Then we tried loud "Hush!" everytime she did it.  We even tried spraying her with a water gun which seemed a little cruel but we were losing our minds from lack of sleep.  We have finally moved her out of our room to the furthest corner of the house and close the door so we can get some sleep.  We even have to bring our son to sleep with us so her can sleep as well.  Now she barks and whines loudly through parts of the night but at least we can sleep.  She is terrified of her cage and we try to make it a pleasant place - feeding her in there, leaving treats for her, putting her in peridoically for short short periods.  But she will also whine throughtout the day for no apparant reason.  It is very annoying but nothing seems to be working.  If I do the "HUSH!" she will stop for a few seconds while I'm looking at her and then as soon as I look away will start again.  Will this get better with time and what should we do in the meantime.  We are truly losing our minds with this new dog and want desperately to make it work.  Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Answer
Continue what you are doing on the nipping, perhaps even walking away when she persists.  At the first sign of problems with your son, remove either her or him.  Work on leadership.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/ For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm  that site has some additional material on dogs and children.  It is very important that she understands he is a higher ranking pack member, not a litter mate.

I don't know if what I have found works very well in a new puppies first few nights will work or not.  I have found lying down in front of the crate like you were going to sleep and speaking softly to it, or singing, until it settles down and goes to sleep works very well. Follow the pattern, a period of active play, outside to eliminate, and then into the crate.