im putting this under the puppy section, the dog is question is almost a year and a half, but the breed is natoriously slow to mature, and this is very puppy behavior.

Some background.
Shortly after moving in with my boyfriend, he receiced back an older puppy that he placed out. He got her as a working prospect at 8 weeks, and everything was fine.
Apparently, while he would be at work, his now ex wife(who did not approve of protection/sport training) would let the young pup out of her crate, and literally chase her around the house, kicking at her, and banging pots, pans, throwing things etc.

He didn't know this was going on, he just saw his working prospect up deteriorate, she belly crawled everywhere,wouldn't walk straight, would bolt at loud noises and shy away from people walking.
he placed her out locally to a pet home, and kept an eye on her.

at about 10 months, he got her back, she seemed to have mostly recovered, and he wanted to see if she would work again(and she does, lol).
She did come back however, COMPLETELY untrained. She was just wild. spastic. We chalked it up to her being in your typical pet home, and started to work on her OB.

Fastfoward to today, and we have gotten no where, its really frustrating. She has been "given" to me, as my project, so i have been doing most of her work. I noticed from the beginning she is a pretty soft dog as far as corrections go(even a light correction and she hits the ground, rolls on her side and licks at the air), so i have been marker training her(or trying), and avoiding correcting if at all possible.
The issue comes in here.
She will not stop wiggling. EVER, unless she is asleep. She literally stands in her crate, doing the excited puppy wiggle. I have tried marking for calm behavior, i get nothing.
she falls all over herself squirming if i look at her, if i speak to her at all(calm slow voice, or otherwise), she wiggles if i click a clicker, she wiggles for food rewards, she goes beserk for toy/tug rewards. I have her sit, its a bouncy wiggly sit. If i hold out and wait to mark until its still, she starts doing other things to get the reward(laying down,etc).
plus, when i go to deliver the reward, apparently that means its time to bounce around. Even when i open the crate to leash her up, she almost immediately flops down, and starts wiggleing while im trying to clip the leash on her to take her out to potty.

this is getting old, i really do try my hardest to stay as calm around her as i can, borderline ignoring her.

How much exercise is she getting?
I don't mean ball playing/stimulating/hectic/aroused exercise, but calm submissive waking or running on a leash at your side or behind you?
They really need this to be able to think straight and be still.
I would be walking her for 3 or 4 30 min walks/trots a day.

When you say work her, you're certainly aren't talking about sport are you? What kind of work do you visualize for this abused animal?
I'd think just learning to accept every day life and living happily in it would be a nice outcome for this dog. Let's start there.

Do some focus training with her. Take her with you every where.

But I think you can forget about working her.

mt bf is handling her in sport, thats what he wants for her, no one at the club is displeased with her bitework, though shes not very far along....i will talk to him about it, that portion is ultimately his decision though. I will actually try and speak with the decoys privately the next class we have, and really lay down whats going on, and see if they think she should be pulled. He won't listen to what i say, though if they mentioned it to him, he'd be more inclined to listen.

she does walk very well on a leash(thats about the only calm thing she does, besides sleeping), she gets 2 good walks, i can up that since im not working right now. Once it warms up a bit, and the sidewalks aren't so icey and full of snow, im going to start biking her again.

what other "calming" exercises can we be working on?

For what it's worth, I wouldn't be having the dog into any bite work training at all right now, except maybe some tug stuff we would be working with anyways. Maybe after the dog calms and clears it's head, your bf can try it again but I wouldn't be surprise if history (at that point) doesn't repeat itself. That's another decussion though.

She walks good? She's calm outside of the house? That's where I'd start with the good sits etc. Try amping her a little from when she's calm, then bring her back down for more calming walk stuff.
How does she act outside of the crate? Does she calm down?
I'd keep all praise and rewards flat and even. I wouldn't back off of the number of them, I'd just keep them even keyed with no high voiced giddiness.

More walks, work with her there.

im not at all disagreeing with you about the bitework, im really not. the BF just won't have a dog in his house that won't work(which is a pretty big source of argument since i have a toy breed, thats another story though, lol), and because she does have such HUGE prey drive, and is in general spastic, i don't want her placed out, at least not without some serious "im a pet now" work done.
He has a male of the same breed(same lines too) that was equally spastic until about 3 years(though, hes still insane), though he wasn't in the least submissive like she is.


she is calm when we are moving on walks, when we stop, or have to wait for something, the wiggles start up again. it starts with her tail(or nub, lol) wagging, then moves up her body almost, to where her front feet are dancing, so to speek.

outside of the crate, shes a spaz. when shes tethered, or on leash in the house, she just snorts all the time, and tries to run around, then hits the end of the line, then the submissive floping starts. If shes loose, she loves to play come get me(which results in her NOT being loose in the house alot), or another chase game where she grabs something and runs.

 Quote: randy allen

For what it's worth, I wouldn't be having the dog into any bite work training at all right now, except maybe some tug stuff we would be working with anyways. Maybe after the dog calms and clears it's head, your bf can try it again but I wouldn't be surprise if history (at that point) doesn't repeat itself. That's another decussion though.

She walks good? She's calm outside of the house? That's where I'd start with the good sits etc. Try amping her a little from when she's calm, then bring her back down for more calming walk stuff.
How does she act outside of the crate? Does she calm down?
I'd keep all praise and rewards flat and even. I wouldn't back off of the number of them, I'd just keep them even keyed with no high voiced giddiness.

More walks, work with her there.

Mallory, since your bf gave you the dog as a project, he must trust you to some degree to do what is in her best interest. The dog's past certainly sets her up for needing some extra TLC, understanding,and the opportunity to literally heal. Trust the advice Randy gave you.

barbara, to be honest, he refuses to deal with her, unless hes posting her for bitework.
he is very heavy handed, very correction based, and even he recognizes that would destroy her at this point, he knows i have more patience.

I hope this pup gets the help she needs. I don't have the expertise to advise other than to advise you soak up the recommendations from the folks who DO. Good luck with her Mallory. She deserves someone who has her best interest in mind and I think you do.

Hi Mallory, I've been working on a somewhat similar problem with one of my dogs (also a very submissive dog very eager to please, although your situation is much more difficult). My dog is trying to offer everything she knows to just get that marker and the reward. Our trainer suggested to turn it down, lower the excitement and work on duration instead - good stand, good stand, good stand - yes(calmly, no jackpot). I was re-watching ME videos and came across this one where he practically recommends the same thing. I am 5 days into working on duration with this dog and she is doing great, can hold a stand almost indefinitely (reinforced by "good stand - treat"). Make sure to bring the reward right to her so the dog does not have to follow it and try to get to it first.

Hope this helps.

-Ana