Maine Refined K9

I cannot thank Devin enough for what he has done to help me and my dog. My dog Aden had a horrific start to his life and was being used as a bait dog before he was rescued. Transitioning to a life with a family and other pets had been challenging to say the least. He was reactive, impulsive and it got to the point where he was aggressive towards my small dog. I was at a loss of what to do and feeling helpless. Devin has gone above and beyond to help Aden work through his challenges. He was able to see Aden’s potential and help him manage his impulses. In training sessions, Aden has been so eager to work for him and follow his directions. He has helped educate me on how I can help both him and my other pets feel comfortable and have boundaries. Aden still has some things he and I need to work on to help him move forward, but with Devin’s support and training I’m confident he will fully live up to the potential I know he has.

We brought our 15 week old Rottweiler puppy Khaleesi to Devin at Maine Refined K9 for the 3 week board and train program. We were initially extremely nervous considering we have never had one of our dogs boarded before let alone for three weeks and at such a young age. Additionally, no matter how much research you do, review all the ratings/reviews and as much as you talk to someone, you never truly know how they’ll treat your baby behind closed doors; we’ve all heard the horror stories of dogs being physically injured, behaviorally ruined, or even killed at the hands of someone their owners trusted or were supposed to trust. However, we also understood the importance of having her trained properly due to Khaleesi being a Rottweiler. And we did not want to give ANYONE the opportunity to place her in the same category society has placed her breed into: the “aggressive” category. After a lot of research on training programs in the Bangor/Brewer area, talking to multiple different training programs and determining that we should do the board and train program, we decided to look further into Maine Refined K9. When speaking to Devin on the phone regarding his dog training experience, the programs he offered, what we should expect to see from our pup if she were to attend any of the programs he offers, looking at the ratings/reviews, and watching the videos he’s posted of training dogs we decided to put our trust in Devin/Maine Refined K9 and have Khaleesi attend his program. Devin certainly is very knowledgeable in dog training. Throughout the entire process Devin was very kind, encouraging, and open. Each time we came to visit Khaleesi, he showed us what he had been working on with her and how she was doing. One of the biggest techniques that he utilizes and that I noticed most was how soft but sternly spoken he is with the dogs. I never once heard him speak out of anger or frustration (to which I’m sure he experiences as do we all) with any of the dogs, and multiple times he brought up to not “correct” your dog with the volume of your voice but with actions and to show the dog what you are asking of it. I appreciate the foundation he gave her to set her up for success but I especially enjoyed him teaching us as handlers because let’s face it, we needed more work than the dog herself. We want nothing but the best for her so we are trying so hard to be the best for her and Devin seems to have the attitude that he’s just a call or text away for help if we find ourself falling off the course. She’s still just a puppy, so she still requires pretty consistent treat based rewarded training however if we stick with it and slowly distance the time from saying the command to giving her a treat as a reward we will eventually get to just giving commands without necessarily needing a treat and that praise will be the treat itself. Upon going home, Devin checked in that night to ensure she was settling back home nicely and the next day to make sure she was doing well. Additionally, I want to point out that the facility and kennels themselves are EXTREMELY clean and when you enter, it doesn’t smell like “dog” at all despite having 6+ dogs in the facility at any one time. Devin certainly prides himself on having a clean and tidy facility.