What is a decompression walk?
Emma Tromp
2025-06-19 05:44:01
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Decompression walks are a fantastic way to meet your dog’s physical and psychological needs. During a decompression walk, your dog is simply allowed to be a dog. Your dog can be off-leash, or attached to a long leash of about 5 meters or more. When given this additional space, your dog is much more free to move at their own pace, and be free to sniff, dig, and play. Your role is simply to monitor the environment for safety, and check in with your dog or shorten the leash when necessary. Decompression walks (a term coined by dog trainer Sarah Stremming), are a way to allow your dog to walk or run at their own pace, to lay down in the grass, to track a scent, to dig in the sand. The opportunity to do this regularly has an incredibly positive effect on your dog’s physical and mental health. Using a longer leash has been proven to increase the amount of time a dog spends sniffing, which in turn, significantly lowers their pulse.
Celine Lind
2025-06-11 20:40:41
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A decompression walk is a dog-led walk on a long-line in an enriched environment where your dog can sniff and engage with nature to their heart’s content. Rather than a walk on a short leash on a busy sidewalk, decompression walks allow dogs to freely express their natural behaviors, which is innately nurturing and satisfying to them. Allowing our dogs to sniff and explore on a long line at a nearby field for 20 minutes can be more powerful and satisfying to them than a 60-minute rigid heeled walk down a sidewalk. In her podcast, Cog-Dog Radio, Certified Dog Behavior Consultant Sarah Stremming defines decompression walks for dogs as freedom of movement in nature and says that they can be a powerful tool for positive behavior change in dogs with anxiety or who are stressed out from city life. Decompression walks are beneficial to dogs who are fearful, frustrated, or have emotional reactions to environmental stimuli and generally have a difficult time on traditional neighborhood walks. Following your dog’s lead, a decompression walk can look like: Sniffing and checking out the environment, playing, digging, chewing on sticks, rolling around in the grass and smelly things, hunting critters, being silly, running/chasing, or whatever fills your dog’s cup and whatever activity they find innately satisfying is the goal. Decompression walks are not about obedience or checking the dog walk box, but an opportunity for your dog to engage in the natural activities they love to do.
Arnulfo McDermott
2025-05-30 09:33:59
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A reactive dog is not required to join, but please keep discussions and posts focused on dog reactivity. I was taught by my basic obedience trainer to walk my dogs in a perfect heel all the time with the 2ft traffic handle on their leashes. However, I have started getting way better results by letting them have the 6ft lead and even walk in front of me, but keep their focus by asking for eye contact often, testing recall, asking for heels, and reinforcing any unsolicited good leash manners or eye contact with me. I stop when they pull to the end of the leash and wait for eye contact to see that they remember to focus on me before I continue. I would like to try some less-structured walks to help them relax but I do not know how y'all manage them. Both my dogs have high prey drive for birds and squirrels, so even if we are out in nature somewhere remote, I imagine they'd still pull a lot. Any tips for decompression walks?
Maxwell Dach
2025-05-30 06:45:38
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Sarah Stremming defines a decompression walk as a walk where the dog is allowed freedom of movement in nature. This can be done off-leash or on a long line with a back clipping harness. Decompression walks allow dogs to be dogs and to engage in natural behaviors in a way that is calming and decompressing. Freedom of movement allows for choice and exploration. Freedom to sniff and explore provide both physical and mental stimulation. Decompression walks don’t have to look the same for every dog. If off-leash is not a possibility for you, try a long line. If you can’t do a trail or a beach, try any grassy area, such as a baseball or soccer field, cemetery, golf course, even a back yard can be utilized for decompression walks.
Read also
- What does it mean for a dog to decompress?
- What does a 30 minute walk do for a dog?
- How to get a dog to relax after a walk?
- What is the purpose of decompression?
- What is decompression in exercise?
- What are decompression activities for dogs?
- What is the decompression protocol for dogs?
- Is a 2 hour walk too long for a dog?
- Is a 20 minute walk good for a dog?