Reddit mentions of Control Unleashed: The Puppy Program

For the behavioural training, not the daily how-to's: Control Unleashed Puppy Programme by Leslie McDevitt. Absolutely adore this book and its author.

I also think Dr. Sophia Yin's Socialisation Protocol is invaluable for getting puppy used to his new environment. I have a very reactive, sound and sight-sensitive breed and she is literally bombproof in urban life thanks to getting her on a right start with this check list.

Best of luck to your coworker. You are doing a great thing, btw. You saw an issue and are doing your best to help out with the resources available. :) She's lucky to have you around!

Books are a nice option that are generally pretty cheap overall, if not free.

What do you mean by very obedient? Do you plan on doing advanced training in the future? Like in dog sports? Do you want all the basics to just be SUPER DUPER SOLID in all locations? What kind of dog are you planning on?

If you're thinking about sports, I second the FDSA free ebook, but also suggest "Control Unleashed: The Puppy Program", and "The Focused Puppy". Both of these books' audiences are for the enthusiastic trainer who probably has a bit of experience training dogs. There will be a bit more training jargon and the like.

If you're more of a beginner, I really like "Perfect Puppy in 7 Days" or "The Puppy Primer". Then, I also highly suggest "Beyond the Backyard" as that really gets into the ways to get a dog that listens everywhere and not just when you've got a treat in the hand, or just in your house, etc. (Do note this book does assume you have taught the basics and instead goes into the proofing of behaviors in all environments, which is why I suggest that in addition to the puppy books)

He sounds infuriating, I agree.

But good news!! He is highly food motivated and clearly really smart!

The piece you are missing is, Ninja has no idea how to learn.

Basically, his tail injury kept him quiet until suddenly one day he found himself a big, rowdy adolescent dog who had no idea what was expected of him. He has had no difficulty muscling his way into/out of whatever situations he wants. No one has ever given him a reason to see why working with you is a worthwhile proposition. He has to make that decision on his own. As you've learned, you can't force it on him.

I would try clicker training.

Training with treats doesn't have to start with him earning anything. It can start with lots of "free" treats, all preceded by the click. Click-treat, click-treat, click-treat, x10. He won't be mugging you for food because the first treat will appear out of thin air and he'll be busy eating the rest of the time. End with a jackpot (click-give a big handful of treats, one at a time). Time it so that the jackpot coincides with you running out of food. Put the clicker away.

Do this two or three times, then put some treats in a bowl and put them on a high surface or in a place otherwise accessible to you/inaccessible to him and start teaching him 101 Things To Do With a Box. Each time you click, you'll have to reach to grab the treat and feed it to him (which you should do as quickly as possible), but in the meantime you aren't holding anything for him to mug you for.

Once you've played 101 TDTWaB half a dozen times or with easy criteria, start working on other behaviors. Start adding commands back in. Things like "go to your mat" and a relaxed down (head on the ground, hip popped out) would probably be useful to teach him.

Stop using any commands you've already tried to train. By repeating them without success you have poisoned them. Assigning new names to each behavior going to be way easier. So pick new names for the behaviors you want him to have ("off" instead of "get down," "lie" instead of "down," "eehhhh" instead of "no," etc).

Really, if it were me I would invest in these two books and do some reading. The theory stuff at the beginning is really important.

• Control Unleashed: The Puppy Program
  
• Learning Games
  
  I think that once the two of you are able to communicate, life is going to get a lot easier.
  
  If the flirt pole doesn't totally exhaust him, I'd counter-condition the treadmill and teach him to jog on it. Feed him on it - first by just spreading his meal out over it while it's turned off, or with food sprinkled all around it while it's on. Rinse and repeat over several days. Then start clicking and feeding him for standing, facing forward on the treadmill (i.e., his entire meal is fed to him while he voluntarily stands the proper direction on it). With how food motivated he is, even if he's terrified of it now I bet he'll counter-condition quickly.
  
  Once you can capture behaviors with the click and get him reliably performing them, you can start practicing your tricks in front of the house. If he seems scared of things, play the "look at that" game and use the Premack Principle from Control Unleashed to counter-condition his fear. You'll find his confidence and his tendency to look to you for how to behave will increase rapidly over time.
  
  Best of luck with him! He sounds like a handful.

My dogs are my friends, and we compete together. One sleeps on the bed, one is in a crate, one has her own sofa. The younger the dog, the more rules there are, and as they get older, the rules vanish, or are diminished. Rules for puppies teach self control and boundaries, and as the puppies get older they are so used to the boundaries that I no longer have to harp on them.

If you can order from Amazon this is a great puppy book.

Two things:

Check out the book Control Unleashed. The puppy one is probably best for you, but also for anyone, because it's an easier read (according to my trainer).

Have some really "high value" treats available to get your puppy's attention. Walk away if you have to. There's not going to be a simple fast fix that automatically snaps your pup into non-play mode. It takes time and patience. Someone on here once said "I have more patience than my dog." I have to constantly repeat this to myself.

Hey mate. Glad for you. You'll like this stuff , there's everything you need.
https://www.amazon.com/Control-Unleashed-Program-Leslie-McDevitt/dp/B0077BTNFS

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0077BTNFS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1892694263/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1