First, thanks everyone for the advice--I'm going to try the "come" command to get him to come to me. The backyard isn't bad because it's fenced in and that little bugger will stand at the back door without running off--it's the front door that he must know, leads to unabound frontiers and as soon as the door opens he jets out. As for the nipping, when our neighbor, or my mother, or a visitor comes to the house-or even outside when he is with us, when they reach for him (and I've tried having them reach with an open palm up), he will snap at them--it's not a hard bite, to me it's a warning from him that they are not welcome. They can even be around inside the house for awhile and as soon as they try to pet him, he will snap at them. He's such a loving dog I'm afraid they are going to think he's mean-ugh!
Dawn