Dog Obedience Training For Your Pet Dog

I have a 5 week old female pup.
She is ready to learn house training and other tips needed.
The pupu mother stopped feeding and she is mature for her age.

I have a nearly 1 1/2 y.o. male shih tzu who I have been crate training for about 8 months. I admit I haven’t been the most consistent with that, solely due to weather (rarely if it’s raining/snowing outside I put the wee wee pads down) but for the most part, I keep to a schedule with him and reward him with play/treats. He was trained on wee wee pads first so he knows to go on them if they’re down. We just moved and he’s had two accidents, he didn’t go to the wee wee pad that was down (it was pouring outside) and the other day he pooped inside just after having come back in from outside. My first question is, how long does the crate training take to work? I know many will say I shouldn’t be doing both the crate and wee wee pads but he knows both and hasn’t had any accidents in a long time. My ultimate goal is to allow him free reign of the apartment without wee wee pads, or to know that he’ll bark when he has to go outside but how long should that take?

My second question is about his obedience when he sees people and other dogs. He barks uncontrollably (out of excitement) but it will not stop until we walk over to the other dog. Sometimes that’s not possible in which case I try so hard to get him to stop. I firmly say ‘no bark’ while lightly tugging on his leash, or I kneel down and look him in the face and say ‘NO!" Should I bring treats outside or do something different?
Great answers and tips! I agree it’s too long for him to be on the pads but it’s also impossible for me to move them closer to the door in my new apartment. There is a staircase leading to the front door and he fell down several steps when we first moved in, so now he won’t go near them, and I carry him up/down the stairs.

I am 25 and do voluntary work at a local animal shelter and have been there for 8 years and have unofficially re-trained a lot of rescue dogs and rehomed them successfully, but my friends believe i should do dog training professionally, how can i go about this?

I’m thinking of enrolling my 13 week old puppy for the course. Is if effective?

i have a german shepherd, hes 2 years old. hes a good boy good temeperament and is house broken. he knows simple commands such as sit. but when hes playing outside, he wont come to me when i call him. how much would it cost to give him obedience training. i know there are different levels, but i want it to get to the point that if i tell him to lay, hell lay for 5 min without me even being in the room.