One of the first questions I'm often asked is, "How long will it take to fix my dog?"

The honest answer is... it depends.

Occasionally, change happens surprisingly quickly. Recently, Lisa brought Rosie to one of my social walks. Rosie barked almost constantly when they arrived. But after working through a couple of simple exercises, something changed. Rosie began to understand what Lisa was asking of her. She stopped reacting quite so quickly and started thinking instead.

Lisa didn't stop there. She practised consistently over the following two weeks, and by the next social walk the difference was remarkable. Rosie was calmer, more focused and the barking had largely disappeared. Is she "fixed"? No. There's still work to do, but they're well on their way.

Then there are dogs whose progress takes months rather than weeks. Does that mean the training isn't working? Absolutely not.

One of the biggest factors influencing progress is how long a behaviour has been rehearsed. Every time a dog barks, lunges or reacts, they're becoming more fluent at that response. Those neural pathways become stronger through repetition, so it's only fair to expect that changing them will take repetition too. We can't expect a behaviour that has been practised hundreds, or even thousands, of times to disappear after a couple of training sessions.

Perhaps the real challenge isn't our dogs—it's our expectations.

We live in a world of next-day delivery, instant streaming and answers at the touch of a button. Somewhere along the way, we've started expecting behaviour change to happen just as quickly. But dogs aren't machines that need repairing; they're living, thinking, feeling individuals. Real learning can't be downloaded, and confidence can't be rushed.

The irony is that when we stop chasing quick fixes and instead commit to consistency, patience and practice, progress often comes more naturally. Lasting behaviour change isn't built in dramatic breakthroughs—it's built in hundreds of small, thoughtful choices, repeated day after day.

Maybe we should stop asking, "How quickly can we fix this?" and start asking, "How can we help this dog learn for life?" Because that's the difference between changing a behaviour for today and changing a dog's future.