Four on the Floor
Basic Manners · 15 steps · by Push Drop Stick
Your Dog will learn to keep all four paws on the floor when greeting people and at the door, so they can say hello without jumping up.
This is an automatic behavior. You will not give a verbal cue. Instead Your Dog learns that keeping their feet on the floor is what makes a greeting happen.
Every step here is something you can do on your own, with no helper needed. Real visitors are where this all pays off, and the epilogue walks you through them once the foundation is solid.
**How it works:** - Attention is the reward, and it is contingent. Four paws on the floor keeps the greeting going. Front paws off the floor ends it: say 'Oops,' stand up tall and turn away for a few seconds, then reset. Your Dog learns that jumping turns an exciting person into a boring statue. - Reward low, every time. Deliver every treat at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up by your face. A treat delivered high lures the next jump. - Your Dog is free to move. Standing, wiggling, even sitting all pass. Only front feet leaving the floor toward a person fails. - Every rep needs a fresh arrival. From the approach steps onward the rep starts with you coming to Your Dog, so between reps turn and walk several steps away, or step out of the room, before coming back in. You can also catch single reps in ordinary life, every time you genuinely walk into the room, which is where the habit really sticks.
For this plan you will also need:
**- A No Reward Marker:** such as 'Oops,' to mark the instant Your Dog's front feet leave the floor.
**Safety:** For the knock and doorbell steps, keep Your Dog behind a baby gate, or on a leash clipped around your waist or tethered to something solid and heavy, so a missed rep cannot become a bolt out the door. You do want both hands free here, one for treats and one for greeting, but do not stand on the leash to get them: a dog who launches into a leash pinned under your foot takes the whole jolt through their neck, and can pull you off balance at the same time. Keep that same gate or tether handy once real visitors start arriving, and keep any tether short enough that Your Dog cannot reach a guest at a run.
**Split:** If Your Dog is a hard jumper, start on the first split step. Before they can hold still at all, scatter a few treats on the floor every time someone approaches. That rewards four paws down and teaches Your Dog that an approaching person means good food rains down low. The first step of this plan trains exactly that.
For a really committed jumper it is often faster to build a sit first. Work through Sit Stay, or Jumpy Dog Sit Stay if Your Dog comes apart around people, and then come back here. A dog who can hold a sit while someone approaches already has most of this plan.
Training steps
Treat scatter as you arrive
Setup: Your Dog is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, tossed to the floor, never up high.
Walk up to Your Dog and scatter 3 to 5 treats on the floor at their feet. No demands. You are teaching one thing: a person coming closer makes good food rain down low. Repeat until they look down expectantly as you approach.
Success: Your Dog eats the treats off the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stand near and reward four paws down
Setup: You are already standing near Your Dog, who is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
Begin this rep already standing near Your Dog, rather than walking in. There is no approach to cope with yet, so the only thing being trained here is that paws on the floor are what pay. The moment all four paws are down, mark and reward low.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Stand near for 2 seconds
Setup: You are already standing near Your Dog, who is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
The same picture, but now hold out for a full 2 seconds of four paws down before you mark and reward low. Still no approach: begin the rep already standing there.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor for 2 seconds.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Take one step toward and stop
Setup: Your Dog is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
From a step away, take one step in toward Your Dog and stop. Reward four paws on the floor.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Walk up and stop
Setup: Your Dog is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
Walk up at a normal pace and stop in front of Your Dog. Reward four paws on the floor.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Walk up and say a calm hi
Setup: Your Dog is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
Walk up and greet Your Dog in a calm, low-key voice. Reward four paws on the floor.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Walk up with an excited Hi Puppy
Setup: Your Dog is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
Walk up and greet Your Dog with real enthusiasm in your voice. Do not bend or reach yet. Reward low while the paws stay down.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Lean your upper body in
Setup: Your Dog is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
Lean your shoulders toward Your Dog without bending all the way down. Reward four paws on the floor.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Bend down to greet
Setup: Your Dog is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
Bend down toward Your Dog while saying 'Hi Puppy!'. This is a classic jump trigger, so be ready to stand tall and turn away the instant the feet leave the floor.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Reach one hand to the chest
Setup: Your Dog is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
Reach a hand toward Your Dog's chest or shoulder for 1 second. Pet only while the feet are down. If they pop up, the hand disappears.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Crouch and pet for 3 seconds
Setup: Your Dog is loose in front of you. Deliver every treat low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, never up high.
Crouch and pet Your Dog's chest or shoulder for 3 seconds. The instant a paw lifts, the petting stops, you stand and turn away. Petting continues only while four paws stay down.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Knock softly once
Setup: Your Dog is loose near the door, behind a baby gate or on a leash tethered to something solid. Deliver every treat low, never up high.
Knock once, softly, on a wall or door, then walk up and greet Your Dog. Reward four paws on the floor.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Knock 3 times then approach
Setup: Your Dog is loose near the door, behind a baby gate or on a leash tethered to something solid. Deliver every treat low, never up high.
Knock three times like a guest at the door, then walk up and greet Your Dog. Reward four paws on the floor.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Doorbell once, stay grounded
Setup: Your Dog is loose near the door, behind a baby gate or on a leash tethered to something solid. Deliver every treat low, never up high.
Ring the doorbell, or play a doorbell sound, once. Then walk up and greet Your Dog. Reward four paws on the floor.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Doorbell or knock, then open the door
Setup: Your Dog is loose near the door, behind a baby gate or on a leash tethered to something solid. Deliver every treat low, never up high.
Ring the bell or knock three times, then walk to the door and open it with no one on the other side. Come back and reward Your Dog for keeping four on the floor through the whole sequence.
Success: Your Dog keeps all four paws on the floor.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Wonderful work. Your Dog now knows the deal: four paws on the floor is what keeps a greeting going, and lifting those front feet turns an exciting person into a boring statue.
From here, polite greetings are a daily habit, not a drill. Keep the two rules alive in real life. Reward low, at chest height or tossed to the floor and never up by your face, since a treat delivered high lures the next jump. And keep your attention contingent, so feet on the floor earn the hello and feet off it end it with a calm 'Oops,' standing tall, and turning away for a few seconds before you reset.
New people are the real test, because every excited visitor is a fresh temptation. Start with someone Your Dog already knows, asking them to walk in quietly and stand still, and only later with a guest who arrives full of energy. Ask every visitor to ignore Your Dog until all four paws are down, to stand tall and turn away the instant a paw lifts, and to start the greeting again once all four are back down. Keep a gate or a solid tether handy so a missed rep cannot become a jump onto someone.
Help Your Dog through those first real greetings rather than testing them. Stand beside them and feed a steady stream of treats low, at chest height or tossed to the floor, while your visitor says hello. Thin the treats out as Your Dog gets steadier. Practice at different doors, with different people, in different places, and reward the calm choice generously the first few times in each new setup.
If Your Dog backslides when company is especially exciting, that is normal and not a failure. Drop back to an easier greeting, make it calmer, and build up again.