diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20260329-190000.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20260329-190000.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fde5c36eeed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/Fixes-20260329-190000.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+kind: Fixes
+body: Reduce snowplow telemetry HTTP timeout from 5s to 1s so an unreachable collector does not stall dbt at the end of every invocation
+time: 2026-03-29T19:00:00.000000-04:00
+custom:
+  Author: claygeo
+  Issue: "9989"
diff --git a/core/dbt/tracking.py b/core/dbt/tracking.py
index 7032f873541..f3e70fa14d8 100644
--- a/core/dbt/tracking.py
+++ b/core/dbt/tracking.py
@@ -100,7 +100,10 @@ def http_post(self, payload):
             self.endpoint,
             data=payload,
             headers={"content-type": "application/json; charset=utf-8"},
-            timeout=5.0,
+            # Keep the timeout short so that a missing or unreachable collector
+            # does not noticeably delay the end of every dbt invocation.
+            # See https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-core/issues/9989
+            timeout=1.0,
         )
 
         self._log_result("GET", r.status_code)
@@ -109,7 +112,14 @@ def http_post(self, payload):
     def http_get(self, payload):
         self._log_request("GET", payload)
 
-        r = requests.get(self.endpoint, params=payload, timeout=5.0)
+        r = requests.get(
+            self.endpoint,
+            params=payload,
+            # Keep the timeout short so that a missing or unreachable collector
+            # does not noticeably delay the end of every dbt invocation.
+            # See https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-core/issues/9989
+            timeout=1.0,
+        )
 
         self._log_result("GET", r.status_code)
         return r
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_tracking.py b/tests/unit/test_tracking.py
index 998c33851c8..e9a9d18e02a 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_tracking.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_tracking.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import datetime
 import tempfile
 from unittest import mock
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -228,3 +229,38 @@ def test_forwards_catalog_type_from_adapter_integration(
         opts = mock_track.call_args[0][0]
         assert opts["catalog_type"] == "ICEBERG_REST"
         adapter.get_catalog_integration.assert_called_once_with("test_catalog")
+
+
+class TestTimeoutEmitter:
+    """Verify that the TimeoutEmitter uses short timeouts so an unreachable
+    collector doesn't stall dbt at the end of every invocation.
+    See https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-core/issues/9989
+    """
+
+    def test_http_post_uses_short_timeout(self):
+        emitter = dbt.tracking.TimeoutEmitter()
+        mock_response = MagicMock()
+        mock_response.status_code = 200
+
+        with patch("dbt.tracking.requests.post", return_value=mock_response) as mock_post:
+            emitter.http_post('{"test": "payload"}')
+            _, kwargs = mock_post.call_args
+            assert "timeout" in kwargs
+            assert kwargs["timeout"] <= 2.0, (
+                f"POST timeout {kwargs['timeout']}s is too long; keep it ≤ 2s so an unreachable "
+                "collector doesn't stall dbt at the end of every invocation."
+            )
+
+    def test_http_get_uses_short_timeout(self):
+        emitter = dbt.tracking.TimeoutEmitter()
+        mock_response = MagicMock()
+        mock_response.status_code = 200
+
+        with patch("dbt.tracking.requests.get", return_value=mock_response) as mock_get:
+            emitter.http_get({"test": "payload"})
+            _, kwargs = mock_get.call_args
+            assert "timeout" in kwargs
+            assert kwargs["timeout"] <= 2.0, (
+                f"GET timeout {kwargs['timeout']}s is too long; keep it ≤ 2s so an unreachable "
+                "collector doesn't stall dbt at the end of every invocation."
+            )