Field Guide · Glossary
Decompression
EnrichmentA period of reduced activity and demand that gives a dog time to settle after a major change.
How it works
It comes up most often with a newly adopted dog, where the instinct is to introduce them to everything at once. Less tends to achieve more in that window: fewer visitors, shorter outings, a predictable routine, and somewhere the dog can retreat to. The reasoning is that a dog under sustained stress is poorly placed to learn anything or to form new relationships, so settling comes first and training follows. How long it takes varies widely by dog and by history.
What it looks like
A dog adopted on a Saturday is not taken to meet the extended family that weekend. For the first two weeks they have a quiet room of their own, fixed feeding times, two short walks along the same familiar street, and no visitors at all.
Commonly confused with
- Decompression walk
- A decompression walk is a single activity: one long, unhurried, dog-led walk. Decompression is the broader low-demand period that such a walk might sit inside.
Related terms
Where this comes up
Gear that helps
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Snuffle mat
Hides kibble in the fabric so a dog sniffs it out, and sniffing is genuinely calming. Our go-to for a dog who needs a job on a rainy day.
Kong Classic (multiple sizes)
The workhorse of enrichment. Stuff it, freeze it, and it buys you a quiet hour. We reach for it for crate time and alone-time practice.
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