If you’re into operant conditioning, try “Click to Calm”. Great book. 
Well, on the bright side, you’ll never miss hearing a knock at the door.
It may take a while to teach him this, especially if he’s very excitable. The best way to start would be to take him on a loooooong walk before hand, or play a very vigorous game of fetch. Always remember: A tired dog is a good dog.
What do you do with him while you’re at work? If he’s penned up all day, you might want to consider Doggy Day Care. I took my pup to one when she was young (she was a pound rescue and desperately needed socialization). It cost me about ten bucks a day, but man, it was worth it.
At the place we used, they had all-day recreation with the dogs. They had a playground, a pool, and an air-conditioned indoor area with tons of toys. During the day, they played games with the dogs, like turning off the lights and using lazer pointers on the floor for them to chase. They also did light training with the dogs. My pup came home every evening exhausted and happy. Training time in the evening was easy because of it.
Secondly, does your dog know who’s boss? Try this little test-- turn your dog over onto his back and hold him there for a minute. If he gives up immediately, you have a submissive dog. If he fights for a moment and then surrenders, you have a dog with the ideal, medium temperment. If he never gives up and continues to struggle, you have a dominant dog.
All three of those temperments can be dealt with-- there are no bad dogs, just bad training. (Of course, some dogs have mental issues, but I doubt your dog is one of them.) You just have to adapt your training to the dog’s temperment.
If your dog is dominant, which I suspect from your descriptions, you need to use a method called Nothing In Life Is Free. You make the dog submit to you for everything he gets, basically. Before you fill his bowl, you make him sit. Don’t let him eat until you tell him he can. (If he stands up before you give permission, remove the bowl.) Make him sit before you put on the leash for a walk. Keep his toys in an unreachable place, and make him sit before you give one to him. If he brings it to you to play, make him sit before you will throw it. Don’t let him walk ahead of you, and don’t let him go through doors before you do.
Training a dominant dog is a lot of hard work, much akin to raising a baby. You have to be on guard 24-7 for dominant behaviors. Dogs see dominance in things we humans don’t see. For example, make the dog sleep in a lower place than you-- the highest-ranking dog gets to sleep in the highest elevated place, so your dog may assume he’s an equal if he’s allowed to sleep in your bed. Restrict his movements. YOU own this territory, and need to show it by restricting his access.
Don’t let him jump up on the couch whenever he feels like it-- make him wait for you to give permission. Block access to certain rooms, like the kitchen. (You don’t have to do this forever-- just until he gets the point that this is YOUR territory, which you are graciously allowing him to occupy.) Don’t let him put his paws on you, and never submit to demands for attention. If he wants to play, make him go sit down before you do.
Lastly, remember that your dog is probably a lot smarter than you give him credit for. Dogs are master manipulators, and will quickly learn what behaviors get them what they want. He wants to please you-- you just have to show him how.
I’d be interested in knowing what you think about the idea that dogs have to have some negative consequences, or they’ll some day decide not to listen and will run out into the street and be killed, or something. I ask because my dog went to puppy classes with a trainer that believed in 100% positive training, and when my vet found out we were going to sign him up for the school’s intermediate class, he hinted that we might want to rethink that idea. He didn’t say anything bad about the place itself, but did say that in his opinion a limited amount of punishment was necessary once most dogs reached the adolescent stage.
Sorry for hijacking your thread tiny ham.
(I’ll supply an opinion, though unasked. 
)
Every dog is different. Some react really well to positive-only training, especially timid or very submissive dogs. Others need negative consequences.
My three dogs run the spectrum of temperments. I have a dominant dog, a ultra-submissive dog and one of medium temperment. I could only use positive methods on the submissive dog, else he would get scared. The medium temperment dog did really well with positive reinforcement when it came to training things like “sit” and “down” but had to have correction when it came to things like pulling on the leash. The oldest dog, the dominant one, I trained with the pop-and-praise method. (Tugging on the leash if the dog did not obey.)
No single method is guaranteed to be right for your dog. Likely, you’ll have to adapt the training to your dog’s unique temperment. As you train, you’ll learn what your dog responds to best.
A dog will not be harmed by mild correction when it doesn’t obey as long as it’s done immediately after the misbehavior. (Dogs have very thin grasps of cause-and-effect and the results of an action have to be instant for them to make the connection.)
Positve-only training takes a bit longer, which is why it might not work for owners who don’t have tons of time and patience. My advice is to do what’s best for your dog.
Lissa made some excellent points about dominance. You really need to show this little guy who’s boss - and at the same time give him a feeling of confidence so he doesn’t need to be so scared and yappy.
One thing regarding the “tugging on the collar” you are doing. If you’re not using a choke collar (for TRAINING) then the tugging might be useless. Dogs have strong neck muscles and their everyday collars aren’t meant to choke them.
However, something like a little lightweight [ulr=http://www.dog.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=101402+014&Cat=]hex collar or a loop lead make it easier for you to “pop” the dog to enhance your verbal commands. I prefer the hex collar to a regular choke chain because there’s much less chance that the collar will get stuck on itself and choke the dog longer than the intended single pop. You can position the collar or lead higher up on the dog’s neck, closer to the ears in a place that is much more sensitive and attention-getting than just tugging on it’s regular collar.
Ceasar uses the loop leads all the time on his show. The key is getting it positioned right.
I actually would classify todd as medium in Lissa’s descriptions. We started putting him on his back from day one, particularly my husband. He kicks at us with his back feet for about 5 seconds, squirms, and then just lays there staring, like “now what?”
He had a big submissive wetting problem at first, but that’s gone.
He did a 5k walk on saturday and was indeed very open to commands after that…but I can’t do five k a day for various physical and time constraints. We go for a long ,vigorous walk after work and he LOVES THE LASER POINTER. I laugh that you brought that up.
I’m going to get the books and see if we can’t do some work with him after his evening walks before dinner.
Does he show any fear behaviors at all around you, as in cowering when you tell him “NO!” or hunching at a loud noise?
How does he act at the vet’s office when he’s scared?
The reason I ask is because I’m wondering if there is any fear aggression in him. If there is, he needs to go to a professional trainer A.S.A.P, because these are the kinds of dogs that end up biting someone. Though your dog is small, you still don’t want that. (My neighbor’s Bichon Frise once clamped onto my hamstring right behind my heel and would not let go. That fuckin’ hurt.)
Yea, I’m sure we’ll get through the “teen” stage fine. We did have to modify some of the training all ready (telling him “no” ) since he picks up on things quickly, but tried doing the “wrong” thing in an attempt to keep the treats coming. IIRC, one of your dogs did the same thing. I just wish there was a wider spectrum of trainers in my area, instead of just one place.