Four on the Floor
Basic Manners · 15 steps · by @allison
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:** - **Pay the paws, early and often.** Four paws on the floor is what earns the greeting and the food, so do not wait to see whether Your Dog jumps. Feed low the moment you arrive and keep feeding while the feet stay down. The aim is that jumping never gets started, not that it gets answered. - **A failed rep does nothing to Your Dog.** If the front feet come up, you simply stop: stand still, quiet hands, no treat, and reset for the next rep. That is all. If the feet keep coming up, the step is too exciting right now, so mark the reps honestly and let the app drop you back to an easier one. - **An optional no-reward marker.** Some trainers like to say a light, flat "Oops" the instant the feet leave the floor, purely as information about which rep did not pay. It is optional, and it is not a telling-off. Skip it if it comes out sharp or if Your Dog gets frustrated. Withholding the treat carries the same information on its own. - **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.
**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.
**Starting out:** The plan opens with nothing but a treat scatter, which is the right place for even a committed jumper to begin. It teaches four paws down and that an approaching person means good food rains down low, before Your Dog is asked to hold still for anything.
For a really enthusiastic 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.
**If Your Dog is shy or fearful with visitors, start somewhere else.** This plan is for a dog who WANTS to greet and needs to learn how to do it with four paws down. A dog who is worried about people does not need a better greeting, they need to stop dreading the arrival, and practising greetings will not get them there. Signs it is worry rather than excitement: taking treats happily at home but not near guests, freezing or hanging back, barking and then retreating, or leaving the room. Work through Being Approached (in Confidence Building) first. For some dogs the right answer at the door is never a greeting at all, it is a settle behind a gate with something good to chew.
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, no waiting for anything first. You are teaching one thing: a person coming closer makes good food rain down low. Repeat until they look down expectantly as you approach. If Your Dog is too wound up to eat, start further away and approach more slowly.
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. Feed low, one treat after another, while all four paws stay down.
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. Feed low as you arrive, while the paws are still down.
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. Feed low as you arrive, while the paws are still down.
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. Feed low as you speak, while the paws are still down.
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. The voice is the new difficulty, so feed low and early, while the paws are still 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. Feed low as you lean, while the paws are still down.
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 bring your treat hand down with you and pay the instant you arrive, before the feet have any reason to 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 one hand toward Your Dog's chest or shoulder for 1 second, then take it away again. Feed low with the other hand while all four paws stay down.
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 down and pet Your Dog's chest or shoulder for 3 seconds, feeding low as you go. The petting is part of the reward here, so keep it soft and slow while all 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. Feed low as you arrive, while the paws are still down.
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. Feed low as you arrive, while the paws are still down.
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. Feed low as you arrive, while the paws are still down.
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 feed low, while all four paws are down, for holding it together 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 makes a greeting happen.
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 pay the paws early, feeding while the feet are still down, rather than waiting to see what Your Dog does.
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 keep their hands low and their voice calm, and to let you do the feeding while they say hello.
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. Keep a gate or a solid tether handy so a missed rep cannot become a jump onto someone. 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. It means the greeting got bigger than the training. Make the next one calmer, feed sooner, and build up again.