Four on the Floor – Preventing Jumping Up

By Sally Bradbury

To teach a dog to keep four feet on the floor when greeting or just in general, you need at least 30–50 treats per session. The dog’s meal, laced with some hot dog sausage is ideal to use. With a piece of food in your hand, approach the dog or let him approach you with your hand at his eye level. Deliver pieces of food in quick succession while the front feet stay firmly planted. Even if just one foot leaves the floor, then the treat is not given until it returns to the floor.

After about 30 repetitions of this, you can start to pause briefly with the food in your hand for just a nanosecond before giving it. The fact that the dog has just had 30 treats with his front feet on floor is going to increase
the chances of the dog repeating the same behaviour, except now you are giving the dog a chance to jump, albeit for less than a second. Feet on floor = treat. Feet leave floor = no treat. Repeat, repeat, repeat.


Gradually start to stand up straighter and wait a bit before giving the treat. A few missed treats for feet leaving the floor (you say nothing by the way, just a quiet ‘good’ when giving the treat) and your pup will get the message.

So, you teach him the concept of four on the floor first, and then you make a chocolate cake, put some beer in the fridge and invite a few dog savvy friends over and have them do it, too. You may need a few such sessions, but providing you are consistent, and you use only people who will do as you ask, your dog will soon generalise to all visitors and greet them without jumping on them.