Decompression is Good for Everyone
All dogs, especially fearful dogs, benefit from a decompression period in their new home. Your new furry family member needs time to feel safe and understand the routines and expectations of her new household with minimal stress, and you should take the time to become an “expert” on your new dog’s needs and preferences. It takes time and trust to integrate into a new family, and that’s exactly what the decompression period is for.
Decompression allows for your new dog’s habituation to your home environment, can increase her coping ability and helps regulate stress hormones.
Physiological stress reactivity and recovery related to behavioral traits in dogs (Canis familiaris)
Pushing any dog past threshold (the shift from a neutral or positive emotional state to a negative emotional state) elevates stress hormones, shuts off the “learning” part of the brain and heightens fear responses.
When your dog remains over threshold for extended periods of time, physiological effects of chronic fear can eventually lead to decreased resilience and health and behavioral problems.
Decompression addresses the rebalancing of stress hormones and the integration of your dog into a new environment at a pace that is comfortable for her.
Decompression includes:
- Assessing the environment from your dog’s viewpoint
- Keeping your dog’s world small
- Offering your dog the choice to interact with family members (or not!) without coercion
- Setting up a dedicated safe space
- A predictable routine
It’s Never Too Early (and It’s Never Too Late)
Even if you did not institute a decompression period when you first brought your dog home, you can start a decompression period at any time. If you already have a resident dog but feel that she is anxious, struggling, or has had a stressful few days, you can go back to the basics and institute a decompression period, where her world stays very small and calm, before slowly reintroducing activities and/or people into her life.
Look at your surroundings with fresh eyes (and if you can do this before you bring your new family member home, that’s even better).
Imagine that you were dropped on Earth from another planet, and nothing is familiar. Stairs, thresholds, doors, porch overhangs, wood floors, carpeting; everything you take for granted may be completely foreign, and therefore anxiety-provoking, for your dog. Don’t be shy about your assessment. Get down to your dog’s level and take a new look at everything: the furniture, open spaces, echoes, heating and cooling elements, timers, beepers, and alarms. TV screens, both off and on, can be perplexing, as can mirrors, shadows from light fixtures, and draperies or window blinds. Appliances, such as the washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, or microwave can be startling when they are in operation. And don’t forget the odors of cleaning products, cooking and personal care products; what may smell great to you may be overwhelming for your dog’s highly developed and very sophisticated sense of smell. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list: use it as a starting point for your own assessment.
Once you have surveyed inside your home, take a look at your yard or garden, exits from the home and your surrounding neighborhood. Are certain times or days busier than others? When does the garbage get picked up? When does the mail arrive? Are neighboring dogs out in their yards at predictable times?
Minimize Stress, Maximize Safety
Take the time to take precautions that will keep your dog calm and secure. Evaluate your home’s layout, public areas, private areas, access to the primary pottying place, and the location of windows and doors to the street.
Whether you have a fully fenced backyard, share a common space, or need to walk on streets and sidewalks, assess the safety of the environment before you bring your dog out. Walk the route and note any gaps in fencing, areas of high pedestrian or car/truck traffic, houses with dogs, cats, or children, and times of day and night that are quieter.
The question that should always be at the forefront of your mind is ‘How can I minimize or prevent potentially stressful events for my new dog?’
It is advisable to let your new dog acclimate to her surroundings for at least two to four weeks before slowly introducing her to the larger world. Some dogs may need a significantly longer decompression period over several months, depending on their history and temperament, and that is ok. It is better to build positive associations slowly over time than to flood your dog with too many new and potentially scary situations before she has had a chance to learn to trust you.
Keep Your Dog’s World Small
For the first few weeks, limit exposure to the outside world. Friends and family will be eager to meet your new family member, and neighbors will look forward to greeting your new walking companion, but your dog is adjusting to a completely new environment where nothing is familiar, including you. Depending on the dog, she may never have been walked on a leash in a neighborhood setting before arriving at your home!
Avoid exposing your dog to known triggers (people, places, or things that scare your dog). If your dog becomes overstimulated or afraid on walks, take a few days or a few weeks and stay in the backyard. It’s absolutely imperative to limit her exposure to triggers, but you still need to offer enough enrichment to meet her needs, including following interesting scents, chewing, ripping, digging, running, or whatever appeals to her. You can provide plenty of enrichment opportunities at home without forcing her to confront situations that scare or frustrate her.
Allow your new dog to sleep without interruptions as much as possible. It takes a lot of energy to learn new routines in new environments and if your dog was in a shelter for any length of time, she probably hasn’t been able to relax enough to get the rest she needs. Dogs need between 12-14 hours of sleep a day. Age, illness and breed may affect those numbers somewhat, but it’s important to let your dog get all the rest she needs.
No Coercion
Allow your new dog to interact with family members on her terms. Give her lots of space and time to learn about her world without pushing for physical contact. Let your dog approach you, and resist the urge to reach out to touch or bend over to pet her. If she does initiate contact, pet her quietly and slowly under the chin or on the chest for just two seconds, then let her end the interaction or come back for more.
Don’t use food to lure her closer than she is comfortable. Instead, toss treats to her at a distance that allowed her to stay under threshold, and play the Treat and Retreat game if she is ready to engage with you.
Building trust means being predictable in your actions and allowing her the choice to interact or not. Aim for the least amount of handling and disruption possible while she decompresses.
Safe Space
Decide, with input from other family members, what room or area would be the best home base for your dog. Take into account the amount of foot traffic (quiet is better), whether the space has direct access to the outside, and if it has the room to set up a crate, x-pen, or crate and x-pen combination.
If possible, shield your dog from unexpected or noisy entrances and exits. Your new dog may gravitate to a specific area of the home, and as long as she is safe from surprise visitors, that may be the best safe space of all.
Rather than allow your new dog free range, use the safe space as a home base. With supervision, slowly open one or two rooms at a time as she proves to be reliable with housetraining and safe with furnishings. Remember to puppy-proof your house, even if your new dog is an adult. Anxiety can cause your dog to chew objects that she wouldn’t usually chew, such as a TV remote or pair of glasses lying around, and blankets, pillows, and electrical cords may be too tempting to resist. If you missed something that your new dog now has in her possession, don’t yell or grab it out of her mouth. Get the tastiest treat you can find and trade the treat for the object. Then rededicate yourself to making your house safe for your dog.
Be Proactive and Predictable
Once you become aware of your surroundings as your dog may perceive them, you can be proactive about managing potential fears. Work your dog’s potty schedule around municipal services like garbage pick-up; keep the light on in a dark hall; throw scatter rugs down on slippery floors, cover windows with translucent window film or even heavy blanket; use a white or brown noise app to block neighbor’s arrivals and departures. Your dog will acclimate to her new life more quickly and with less stress if you give her the gifts of time, security, and patience, and allow her all the time she needs to decompress.
A predictable routine also goes a long way toward reducing fear and uncertainty. Knowing “what comes next” helps dogs feel secure, which in turn reduces anxiety.
Expanding Horizons
How do you know when it is time to expand your dog’s world? She will “tell” you by becoming slightly more curious about her surroundings. You may see her peer around a corner into a room she previously wouldn’t go in; tentatively approach a family member when they are sitting quietly or start to investigate toys previously left untouched.
The foundation of trust and predictability that you have laid over weeks and months will support her newfound confidence and continue to support her as you grow together.
[…] Decompression is the most critical, and often the most overlooked, period of the assimilation process. Three days, as the graphic suggests, doesn’t even begin to address the effects of stress from moving to a new home, with new people, often without the skills to navigate a new life. Nor does it consider what your dog’s stress level was like in her previous home, rescue, or shelter. Studies with human subjects on chronic stress have found that it can take months to bring cortisol and other hormone levels back down to near baseline. Since dogs and humans have similar endocrine systems, several months of decompression may be necessary for a dog in a new environment. […]