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If that is the case you can’t really do anything about the genetic factor. But when encountering a dog like this I put it through the paces in “the triangle”. Attitude, pack structure, restless spirit, anxiety (due to an unpredictable environment in particular). The rest is using true obedience to guide the dog and teach new patterns of behavior for specific situations where the dog’s default behavior is causing problems.
For example: If the the dog is always pacing and I’m sure i addressed all underlying issues in the “triangle” such as poor diet, exercise, etc.. I will command the dog to a more appropriate behavior such as going to a place while the owner watches TV/eats dinner/fill in the blanks. From there condition or counter-condition to give a better association with the situation.
Dogs that jump from any sort of noise I will have to rule out lack of exposure first. Then settle on genetics which will limit what you can do about it for the random surprise noise. Teaching good management plans will usually be more effective if that is the case. Doesn’t hurt to try desensitizing/counter-conditioning when it is feasible, but some dogs will just always jump when the random chair falls over. Kind of like with thunder some dogs can actually get worse the more they are exposed and become sensitized other than the opposite if you push the noise sensitive dogs too much.
