The longest-serving trainer on Cesar Millan's team, the only one in the Northeast, and the founder of The Maddie Ranch in Northern New Jersey.
The passion began in childhood. Both of Steve's grandfathers were men of nature, and he spent his early years outdoors among animals, absorbed in the way they behaved. Dogs, above all.
He went on to play Division 1 baseball at Pace University, a professional prospect until a severe arm injury ended the game. He spent the years that followed in his father's New York City construction business: the safe path, and never the calling. In his spare hours he studied dog training and behavior through books, seminars and videos, and worked hands-on with shelter dogs and the dogs of friends and family.
Then came Hoboken, and the dogs. Steve began as the walker who took on the dogs other companies had given up on, and the difficult ones settled in his hands. One pack became several, ten to fifteen dogs each, moving calmly through the city.
In time his walking clients asked a different question: could he teach them what he was doing. The training practice was born on those sidewalks. Fifteen years and thousands of dogs later, it fills an estate.
In Steve's telling, the practice was never planned. It assembled itself one dog at a time, on the sidewalks of Hoboken.
Newly out of construction and unsure of the road ahead, Steve began noticing Hoboken's dog walkers: dogs pulling, lunging, barking and jumping, or turned loose to run chaotically in the public dog park. Pack Leader Dogs began as a correction. A higher quality of walk, built on structured exercise, good behavior and genuine fun.
As the new walker in town, Steve was handed the dogs other companies had let go over behavioral issues. It started with a single dog. Before long there were multiple packs of ten to fifteen dogs each, calm on the same streets that once undid them.
Owners saw such dramatic improvement in their dogs that they began asking Steve to teach them what he was doing. Many had already been through one trainer or several, with little to no result. Some situations had grown worse.
The reason seemed plain to him. Trainers were teaching obedience, physical positions such as sit, down, come and stay, without understanding the psychology of the dog in front of them. Owners were taught to lean on treats, tools and technique, while nobody spoke of leadership, the instinctual need behind it, or the way a human's own energy shapes a dog's state of mind.
In the years since, Steve has worked with people from every corner of life: stay-at-home parents and billionaires, veterinarians and professional athletes, actors, executives, politicians and dog professionals, in the suburbs, in the city and abroad. The work has run from puppy training to the most severe behavioral issues a dog can carry. Nearly two million people follow his work across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
The Maddie Ranch was built as the destination where humans and dogs both come to find balance. Every dog who stays here is treated as one of our own, and the humans, more often than not, become friends.
Steve found Cesar Millan's work in 2006 and followed it to the source. He is the longest-serving trainer on Cesar's team and the only one in the Northeast. Cesar, whose Emmy-nominated shows air on National Geographic and Disney+, refers his own clients to him, celebrities among them.
Since 2013 the two have taught the Training Cesar's Way workshop together, and they remain close friends. Steve also studied with the Monks of New Skete. From both schools comes the conviction the ranch is built on: dog psychology before dog training.
“It is my honor to share dog psychology with you, and to bring balance and harmony to you, your dog and your home.”
Steve Del Savio, Founder
A full team of trained dog professionals is on site day and night. Two of the trainers who work beside Steve:
Jay has had a passion for animals since he was a boy, and he turned it into a career working with dogs.
He was beside Steve in the early days, when Pack Leader Dogs was still walking packs through Hoboken, and he has worked hands-on with Steve and Dave for many years since.
At the ranch he works specifically with the dogs here for a residency, hands-on every day with the dogs in our care. He has an excellent understanding of dog psychology.
Dave has been drawn to dogs for as long as he can remember. He began working with dogs professionally in 2011 and knew at once the work was right; every dog he has cared for since has taught him something about behavior, communication and trust. He has trained alongside Steve at the ranch since 2018.
He raised his own dog, Willow, on those lessons, and he came to the pack with more than a decade of hands-on knowledge and a simple ambition: to help people find the bond with their dog they had always wanted.
The Maddie Ranch was built to a single brief: an environment tailored entirely to dogs, structured, joyful and impossible not to love. We want it to be the place your dog cannot wait to come back to.
And we want their owners to have total peace of mind. Families whose dogs stay with us for a training residency tell us, again and again, of the calm that comes from knowing their dog is in a beautiful natural setting, in the care of a team of trainers, day and night.
Pack Leader Dogs holds a 4.9 star rating across 106 Google reviews. Two of them, in full and in part:
“Steve, the founder of Pack Leader Dogs, is truly an expert in his field. He understands that every dog is unique and has a different personality. He is able to tailor his approach to each individual case, which I found to be incredibly impressive. He was able to help me understand my dog's behavior better and provide me with the tools and knowledge to continue strengthening our bond.”
Cesar CruzGoogle review
“Yesterday was LIFE CHANGING for me and my little household! … In under 3 hours my ‘lunatic’ bully G and his new copy cat sister lil mama broke all of their bad habits. I admit it, it was mostly my bad habits… I learned how important it is to be the pack leader and to be mindful of MY energy with them… I couldn't believe the transformation in such a short period of time!!”
Dina ManzoG & Little Mama · Real Housewives of NJ
The ranch carries the name of Steve's own dog, Maddie.
Every application is read personally by Steve Del Savio, with a reply within one business day.