Curbing my puppy's desire to jump and bite

We've got two 3 month old mini Australian Shephards, love them to death. We are having a problem with one of them though. He's can be extremely hyper at times which is perfectly fine, but he has a very bad habit of jumping and biting at the same time. He often times clamps down hard with his sharp little teeth on to skin or clothing at the height of his jump, then rips it as he falls back down to the ground. This happens most when he's excited because he's either happy to see us or because he just performed a command well and we are congratulating him. He especially loves to jump at the head when we are crouched down.

We've tried several different ways to stop him from doing this. We've yelled no, we've tried yelping as though we are in pain (and sometimes we really are), we've tried ignoring him, we've tried holding him down with a leash, nothing seems to be making an impression on him. Most of the time he just treats it as playing and starts running circles or continues to jump at us.

The two puppies play a lot and rough house often, jumping at each other and biting each other, we think this idea keeps getting reinforced as acceptable because of this. Unfortunately we don't have the time and/or the apartment space to keep them apart for the next few months to hopefully curb this.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how we can break him of this habit? We are afraid of the other one also picking up this bad trait.

uhm i dont know much about A.S's but my neighbor has one, and told me he nips and bites because its in his nature to get the sheep together or something like that. i'm sure there are people on here that can help u better....

Wow what a handful. Sounds like you've tried some good ways of handling it though. Part of this they will outgrow. You know that but I thought you might feel better if I reminded you.

You still need to let them know that this isn't acceptable. I have a gsd/husky that is just like this. Always jumping on me and nipping. It doesn't really hurt but she's older and has her adult teeth.

I'm working on it with her by making her SIT before she gets any kind of attention. It's really an invaluable thing. She is slowly learning that she has to sit to get any kind of attention. Sits for food. Sits before I throw the ball. Sits before I pet her. Now she just randomly sits when she's hopeful about getting something. If she get them to sit then get down to their level and hold them and pet them in the sit position while talking calmly. This isn't a miracle cure but you'll see an improvement in about a week I imagine. Make sure everyone does it!

As for the nipping you already know about the yelping and ignoring. You can also take the ignoring one step further to time outs (or walking away if they aren't ankle biters). Just take them and put them in a quiet room and give them a puppy time out. Remember, that they want attention and games and taking that away is sometimes punishment enough. But if they do things right by sitting and not biting then go overboard on the attention. Be dramatic. If they start biting again stop everything and walk away. They'll pick it up.

Thanks for the help, I agree that things like timeouts will be helpful. Unfortunately he does it most when he's excited that hes about to be taken outside (usually right after I get home so he's EXTRA excited about that) so a timeout means a puppy mess to clean up and when we are outside for a walk and hes on a leash making a timeout impossible. Also, hes often times hard to catch right after he's done this, so by the time hes caught and sent to another room, I'm afraid he has no idea why he's being punished.

The sitting method works sometimes, but only when the other puppy isn't around, otherwise he just goes to his playmate if I won't play with him.

do you ignore him when you first come home? If you get into that routine it makes come home a little less exciting for them. Still let them out but just make it a non-event.

I puppysit a little pug who is so hyper he acts like he's had way to much coffee. He and Gracie play and get overly excited. If Princess is getting attention here comes Gracie and Kokomo to get in their share, work with sit and Kokomo is jumping all over the other two to play. Since they are always together, on the days I puppysit I might as well work with them on how to behave when together.

So we do sit, lay and stay, all three together. They all three sit, sometimes just about on top of each other fighting to be closes to the hand with the reward. Then since I cant give a treat to them all at the same time they have to wait as I give it one at a time. Princess is great at this one. The two pups usually takes a couple of times of reminding. If one jumps in trying to steal from the other I pull back, say something then try again. The reward isnt given until they all 3 sit calmly and wait for their turn. When we have good leftovers I want to share with them, bacon or some kind of meat, I do the same thing. This takes alot of self control for them. So now when I say sit before letting them out, they sit and wait. Or when I've had to run an errand and be gone 15 mins and return to Kokomo acting like I've been gone hours and my girls being excited to see me I can say sit and most times all 3 will do just that. We practice this alot throughout the day.

Lay is funny. Everytime, Kokomo lays down with his head butted up agaisnt Gracie's head. I'm just here to give you encouragement, you can get both pups to listen to the orders at the same time. Work with them one on one, but then I'd work with them at the same time too since they are together so much.