agressive behavior in Shitz shu

Question
We have a male shitz shu just turning a year old.  He is left alone about 5-6 hours alone mon-fri.  He has complete freedom of lower level of home.(Upstairs if off limits because he can sprint up but cannot come down).My problem is this.  Almost every night like clock work my little darling doggie (chase) jumps on the couch and will bark at me and nip (not hard)  If I ignore him he will jump on the back of the couch (we have a huge sectional) stand behind my head trying to nip my ears.  I know he wants my attention.  I play with him for at least 1 hour or so after work at sometime during the evening.  However I cannot find a solution to making him stop this agressive behavior.  I don't want to crate him for the obvious reasons HE loves his little crate and sleeps in it every night downstairs.  We have tried to put the crate upstairs but he barks his head off because I close the gate when he is crated upstairs for sleep. (I am not comfortable with him wandering around in the middle of the night up stairs.
So my real problem is the barking and nipping issue HELP
Thank you

Answer
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

We have a 7 month old Lab doing much the same. Give him plenty of attention, but you may have to resort to a spray bottle.  Add a little water or lemon juice to it if you have to, and give him a blast in the face when he barks.