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Polite greetings

Board and train for jumping and polite greetings

Dogs jump because it works: a jump reaches faces, and faces are where the attention is. Teaching a dog to keep its paws down is quick. Teaching every person who walks through your door to stop paying for the jump is the slower part, and it belongs to you.

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Golden retriever standing up against the yard fence

Last reviewed October 9, 2026 · by the Dogtown team · reviewed by Gabriella Pope, Director of Training & Canine Behaviorist

Four on the floor

Four on the floor pays the dog before it can jump, then turns the greeting itself into the reward

The AKC's method, which we follow, starts before the hello. As a person approaches, treats land on the floor at the dog's feet, so its head goes down instead of up. The person greets the dog while it eats, then steps away before the food runs out. Over many repetitions the treats thin out until the greeting is the payment. If the dog jumps, the person turns and walks away and the food stops, so a jump ends the fun instead of starting it.

Sit to greet comes next, because sitting is an easier rule for a dog to follow than not jumping. The dog is asked to sit as a person approaches; the greeting continues while it stays seated and ends the moment it pops up. No step needs a knee, a shout or a squirt bottle. AVSAB's 2021 statement notes that everyday issues such as jumping can be managed by arranging the environment and reinforcing the response you want.

  • Treats on the floor before the greeter arrives
  • Greeting only while all four paws are down
  • A jump ends the greeting on the spot
  • Sit to greet once the floor routine is solid

The front desk

The front desk is our practice station, because new people walk through it all day

A greeting routine is only as good as the number of people who have tested it. At Dogtown, the front desk and lobby see daycare families, grooming clients and staff coming and going from the 6:30 AM weekday opening. A board-and-train dog can practice there in short, leashed sessions, with the trainer running the floor routine and staff playing the excited greeter, the quiet greeter and the person with full arms.

Variety matters more than volume. A dog that greets its trainer politely has learned one person; a dog that keeps its paws down for a groomer in an apron, a tall man in a winter coat and a staffer bending to say hello has learned the rule. Each greeting is kept short, and the dog is walked away before it has a chance to fail, so the habit it rehearses is always the polite one.

Kids and visitors

At home, children and visitors need their own rules, or the jumping comes back within a week

Children are the hardest greeters. They squeal, run, wave their arms and arrive at face height, which is everything that invites a jump, and the AKC points out that children and older people are the ones most easily knocked over. Agree the household rules before pick-up: greet only when the dog's paws are down, turn away and fold your arms if it jumps, and have an adult hold the leash whenever a child practices.

Visitors need a script too. Tell them the routine at the door, keep a cup of treats on the hall table, and keep the dog leashed or behind a gate for the first weeks so it cannot rehearse the old greeting. One relative who loves being jumped on can undo a stay's progress over a single holiday weekend. On Cape Ann that weekend might be Fiesta week in late June or Labor Day, when the Schooner Festival fills Gloucester and the house fills with guests.

  1. 01

    Leash or gate the dog before the door opens

  2. 02

    Drop treats on the floor as the visitor steps in

  3. 03

    Let the visitor greet while the dog eats with four paws down

  4. 04

    Ask for a sit before the next pat

  5. 05

    If the dog jumps, the visitor turns away and the food stops

  6. 06

    Walk the dog away while it is still calm

Honest limits

A stay builds the routine fast; it cannot stop your guests rewarding the jump

What a Foundation week can change: a dog that has never been shown what to do instead of jumping learns a clear alternative and practices it with many people. What it cannot change: the household's habits. If greetings at home still happen at full volume, with the dog lifted onto laps and hands waving at chest height, the old behavior is still being paid. Plan to run the routine at every arrival for the first month home.

Some jumping is not about manners. A dog that jumps and mouths in a frenzy may be over-aroused or worried, and a dog that leaps at strangers and then barks or backs off is often anxious rather than friendly. Those dogs need a different plan, which our page on stranger reactivity covers. A big adolescent whose jumping is one part of a wider impulse-control gap often does better in the two-week Advanced stay, with Calm & Connected afterward.

  • Happy jumping at familiar people: Foundation fits
  • Jumping, then barking or backing off: look at stranger reactivity
  • A big adolescent with no brakes anywhere: Advanced, then Calm & Connected
  • Frantic mouthing while jumping: mention it at the assessment

Updates and after

Updates track who your dog greeted politely, and Academy days keep the habit in practice

The daily updates during the stay tell you how greetings went: how many people, how many jumps, and which kinds of person were hardest. The format, written, photo or video, is confirmed when you book. At the go-home lesson you run the floor routine yourself while the trainer watches your timing, which is usually the difference between food that lands before the jump and food that rewards it.

For practice afterward, Dogtown Academy days, $89 full or $69 half, include a training session every day, and the walk through the lobby at drop-off makes a natural greeting rehearsal. Private sessions from $94 can work the moment at your own front door. Bright Beginnings suits pups from 4 months that need broader manners. Our board and train page compares both stays.

At Dogtown

Where greetings get practiced

Board and train builds the routine, and Dogtown Academy days keep it in use at every drop-off.

Australian shepherd sitting attentively during training Dog TrainingFrom $94 per session · Explore Golden retriever resting on a cozy bed in a Dogtown boarding suite Overnight StaysFrom $78 · Explore Dogtown trainer playing with a small doodle on the outdoor turf Dogtown AcademyNewFrom $69 · Explore

Every price on one page

Asked and answered

Questions people ask about this

Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.

Should I knee my dog in the chest when it jumps?
No. A knee or a push is physical punishment, and some dogs read it as rough play and jump harder. AVSAB's position is that reward-based methods should be used for all training. Turning away and stopping the food removes what the jump was for, and teaching sit to greet gives the dog a better way to collect attention.
How long does it take to stop a dog jumping?
The floor routine often starts working within days of consistent practice, but how long the habit holds depends on everyone who greets the dog. A dog paid for jumping for years, by many people, takes longer than a young one. Expect the first visitors after the stay to test it, and plan for them.
My dog only jumps on children. What should we do?
Children move and sound like play, so they draw more jumps. Keep the dog leashed or gated when young children arrive, have an adult handle the treats, and let children greet only when the dog is calm with its paws down. Never leave a young child to manage a jumping dog alone.
Is jumping covered in Foundation or Advanced?
Both. Greeting with four paws down falls under Foundation's household manners and impulse control, so a dog whose jumping is mostly excitement at home can be well served by one week. Advanced repeats those skills and adds distraction proofing and structured socialization, which suits a big adolescent that jumps everywhere, not only at the door.
Can a groom before pick-up double as greeting practice?
It can. Grooming at Dogtown needs no evaluation and can be booked during an overnight stay, so a bath before pick-up adds one more set of hands your dog meets politely. A dog that jumps on everyone at the vet or the groomer benefits from the same floor routine, run by you in the waiting room.

More questions? Read the full FAQ

Sources

Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.

Keep reading

Board and train: Foundation and AdvancedBoard and train for stranger reactivityBoard and train for adolescent dogsDogtown Academy Board and train All guides

Next step

Four paws on the floor.

Tell us who your dog jumps on, where it happens and how hard. We reply within one hour on business days and book the assessment with Gabby.

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