Dani - Hi. I, too, am sort of a newbie here so won't say my opinions are professional, but have had dogs for over 50 years of many different breeds and will answer you how I would do with my dogs.

1) ALL HUMANS are the pack leaders, never the dog. So it should be both of you and eventually your kids and then the dog being the lowest pack member. Whether you think the dog is nipping because it's excited or fun, it should not be allowed - even in puppies. You need to curtail that immediately. No jumping up, no nipping.

2) I would say if the dog is doing great in the small crate without accidents then no reason why she can't move to the whole of the larger crate. Should she have accidents, you can always go back and put the divider in and slowly move up again.

3) Start with a buckle collar and then use a simple choke collar for training. Never leave the choke collar on the dog unattended unless you have locked both rings together with a clip or something. Learn to use the choke collar properly and put it on correctly. Do not use a prong collar unless you need it for control and then have someone show you how to use it correctly. Best to find somewhere to take classes to teach both you and the dog to start.

4) If your yard is secure, why are you still chaining your dog up? I would prefer a dog run to leaving the dog on a chain. I would say let the dog loose, the whole reason to having a fenced yard for a dog!

This is a great place for learning and lots of free video clips, articles and ebooks - might as well take advantage of them

Good luck!

I've merged your answer, Lynne, into the second O.P.'s post. This was a duplicate O.P.