..for building confidence. Jake shies at loud noises (although not sirens, thunderstorms or fireworks) and sometimes unexpected movement from behind him (like a box falling over). He barks a lot at things he doesn't know, and is nervous around new stuff like public fountains, bridges, large mailboxes... I could go on.

Can you build confidence? Or is it a matter of handling the nerves through exposure, training, and socialization? Confidence is different from focus/drive, right?

Yes, you can absolutely build confidence. Maybe not to the point that the dog is 100% but you can help him overcome the worst parts of it.

What do you do now with him as far as getting him through things? Are you talking to him and telling him it is okay and trying to reassure him? If you are, stop.

Trying to reassure a dog that is already into the nervous/fearful stage is only reinforcing that behavior.
If you see something while out walking that you think is going to trigger him, get as close as you can to it without him reacting to it and do some fun stuff. Like obedience with high value rewards, a game of fetch or whatever he REALLY likes to do and keeps his focus on you.

Work towards the obstacle that he would be nervous of.

I know there are more ways to help this issue, but I find that this really works best for me.

Little Em HATED the coffee bean grinder, so we worked in the living room and other rooms as well with raw chicken rewards and Doug would run the grinder in the kitchen. At first she would bark and hackle and run towards it, but once she figured out that the raw chicken was way more fun it went smoothly from there. Now, when I grind my morning coffee she is tethered to me and puts her feet up on the counter, wags her tail and has her ears up while I do what I do, she knows there is a payoff coming for being confident.


(disclaimer: okay, yeah I am busted letting her jump up on the counter, but her confidence overrides watching me do things, if she wants to join in and watch, I do not correct that....now, when she jumps on the couch and jumps on the counter with all four feet, this DOES get corrected )

not certain of any book/article, but just to second carol, you can definitely do it.

with luc, whatever is bothering him that he has poor confidence with, i am the one who goes out and handles it, and that seems to take away a lot of his stress. he had some big issues w/cars coming from behind, so kind of similar - he's still not perfect, he has little moments, but by and large he's doing great - what i did was stayed upbeat and positive, if i knew he was going to not continue going, i switched immediately to obedience and distracted him through whatever was bothering him, so he was focusing on me and what i wanted him to do, not the scary car. later, as he got better, i used teagan - you might be able to do this w/your two dogs - when luc started to get nervous and pull back, i'd pretend he wasn't there and start to make a big fuss over teagan and how great she is, and suddenly....luc at my side! wanting attention too!

carol, i dunno about the front feet on the counter! it could lead to bad things! i discovered teagan has been front feeting the counter unbeknownst to me! she ate a 1/4 of a loaf of bread i'd just baked on sunday!!!! and then when i took it from her and put it back on the counter (it still need to cool off) she stuck her feet back up there and tried to take it again.....we are WORKING on that i said 'TEAGAN! you're on a grain-free diet!' when i found her, and my bf started laughing....hmmmph.