Asked, answered.

It depends on the dog and on how much of the work you want to do yourself. The Pack Leader Residency changes a dog's habits at The Maddie Ranch over four to eight weeks, then hands them to you week by week. Private Sessions change your handling at the ranch, and you do the rest at home over the following months. The Puppy Residency borrows the Residency's structure for a puppy, over two to four weeks. We match the program to the dog, never the dog to a program. Residencies begin with an assessment before quoting and booking. For Private Sessions, we quote on the first call before booking and meet your dog at the first session.

At its core, dog psychology is how dogs think: how they read one another, how they bond with each other and with the people in their lives, and what their behavior is quietly telling us. It is the foundation of everything we do at the ranch. Understand the mind first, and obedience becomes the easy part.

The fuller philosophy lives on The Method.

Pack Leader Dogs is the practice: Steve Del Savio, the team and the training programs. The Maddie Ranch is our home, a lodge of more than 5,000 square feet on eight acres of Northern New Jersey countryside, and the place where the work happens. One name belongs to the people, the other to the place.

We work on your dog's state of mind before we ask for obedience, and we train you as well as the dog. Most training teaches a dog what to do with their body and never asks why they were pulling, lunging or barking. A dog who is anxious or overexcited cannot take on new manners, so we bring the mind back to balance first, and the manners follow quickly.

Because dogs learn by association, you learn to read your dog and lead calmly, which is why the change holds at home. Many families come to us after several trainers.

Yes to every breed, size and age, and yes, we have turned dogs down. Every Residency placement follows a conversation with us and an assessment at The Maddie Ranch, where we confirm we can help and which program fits. If we cannot help, we will say so rather than take your money. Being honest about your dog's history on the application never disqualifies them; it helps us prepare. The Canine Social Club has its own standards, listed on the Club page.

It holds because you are trained with your dog: every week of the stay at the ranch, at the go-home session before your dog leaves, and at the follow-up two weeks later, which is when things tend to slip. Dogs learn by association, so the rules your dog learned here have to come from your hands at home, and that is what the weekly sessions teach. After the Residency you have support for the life of your dog.

We do not guarantee results, and we would be wary of anyone who does. Training is teamwork between a dog and their family, and half of that team is you. What we do guarantee is support: the Lifetime Support Guarantee, which comes with The Pack Leader Residency and The Puppy Residency, means we are a call, text or email away for the life of your dog.

Four weeks is the shortest Residency we run, and the length is set at the assessment after we have met your dog. We have found that four weeks is the minimum for a dog's behavior and state of mind to change, and for you to have enough sessions and enough time to take the work in. Most residency cases are intervention: removing unwanted behaviors, then instilling new ones and a balanced state of mind, and that does not happen in a week or two.

In private quarters of their own inside the lodge at The Maddie Ranch, the home where Steve lives, with a team on site around the clock. The lodge is temperature controlled, with hospital-grade UV air filtration, filtered water and calming frequencies playing, and it runs like a household: thresholds to wait at, visitors to greet calmly, quiet hours to rest through. Someone is always home.

Yes to both. The team gives medication during a stay, and we require written instructions with it. Families bring their dog's own food, whatever it is, kibble, raw or fresh, and we keep to it, along with any allergies you tell us about. Put all of it on the application and we will have it ready before your dog arrives.

A day at The Maddie Ranch opens with a structured walk across the great lawn, side by side, before anything else is asked. Mornings are for training, one idea at a time: the leash, the threshold, the calm that everything else is built on. Midday is rest inside the lodge, where the off switch is practiced rather than hoped for. Afternoons are spent in the fenced turf yard in the woods among balanced dogs, with the team close by, then the evening meal and the slow hours, then the night in the lodge with the team on site. You receive photos and videos every day.

The Puppy Residency is a stay of two to four weeks at The Maddie Ranch for puppies twelve to twenty weeks old. Your puppy learns the foundations among balanced adult dogs: the leash, the crate, housebreaking, place, calm introductions to new things, an end to nipping, manners, and easy company with dogs and people. You train with your puppy every week, so the bond grows with you in it, then a go-home session, a two-week follow-up and support for the life of your dog. They will still be a puppy when they come home.

Yes. The Puppy Residency runs two to four weeks, and two is possible because puppyhood is prevention rather than intervention. There are no unwanted habits to remove first, only foundations to set while the mind is wide open. The length is set at the assessment.

Twelve weeks is when The Puppy Residency begins, and twenty weeks is the latest start. If your puppy is younger, we suggest scheduling for twelve weeks, and in the meantime we give you instructions on what to do at home so the first month goes well. It also gives you the chance to see which habits are starting to show, so we know what to work on when your puppy arrives.

Private Sessions take place at The Maddie Ranch, where we can control the environment. You can book a single ninety-minute session, or a series of three: the ninety-minute session and two sixty-minute follow-ups. Either way you learn by doing the work with your dog under our eye. Virtual sessions are sixty minutes, one to one with Steve, from anywhere in the world, booked directly on his calendar in your time zone. Your dog is at home beside you, and you leave the hour with a plan.

Because the behavior at home comes from the relationship, and the relationship comes with you. At the ranch we can control the environment, read your dog's state of mind and your own, and teach you the handling that changes it, away from the habits and distractions of the living room. You take the plan home the same day, and the follow-up sessions are where it becomes the new normal. In-home sessions are available for follow-ups only, case by case and not guaranteed, with a travel fee.

It rarely matters. We are not waiting for an incident; we are reading the state of mind underneath it, and that shows in the first minutes of how your dog arrives, walks, and looks to you. Most owners are surprised how quickly the pattern is clear. The plan you leave with is for the moments at home, not the one we happened to see.

Whichever tool fits the dog, the human and the relationship in front of us, and that decision comes last. We start with understanding: the dog, through dog psychology; the human; the relationship between the two; and the goal. Only then do we choose the tools that work best for that individual dog and family, and we will use most of them depending on the case. The best tools of all are the right energy and knowing exactly what to do, and those come home with you.

Most behavior lives on the human side of the leash: energy, timing, rules, boundaries, and how everyone in the house responds to the dog. That is exactly what video reaches. Yes, your dog should be beside you at home, because we watch the ordinary moments where they actually happen: the leash coming off its hook, the doorbell, dinner reaching the table. Steve reads the two of you, rebuilds how the relationship runs, and you leave the hour with a plan you can start that day. If the work needs hands on the leash that you cannot deliver, we will say so and point you to a private session or the Residency.

Often you will see a change in the first session, because the change begins with you and you leave with the plan. Patterns take repetition, so a follow-up is there when you want the next step, and virtual is also the natural continuation after a Residency, once the groundwork is in.