The Maine Pack

I can't thank Abigail enough, she helped transform my pitbull with such a good foundation going forward. I wish I would have signed up earlier!! She took so much time to answer my questions and train me so I could train my dog with terms and actions he understands. I'm so hopeful for my dogs future now which is a complete 180 from the pure panic that my dog was going to eat someone or another dog before her training. I wish I could send him to summer camp with her every summer! Thank you so much!! ❤️

We just love The Maine Pack! We just brought our 2 year old rescue pup to them for help with nervousness around other dogs and leash training. We entered her into their 3 week train/board course and got her back two weeks ago and are so happy with the results! Abigail and her crew were able to give our dog a wonderful base of training that we can build on at home. Before we brought our dog to them we didn’t have a good language to use with her, now we can actually communicate what we want to her and she understands! We love that they train all the dogs in a home environment (instead of a kennel) and they get so much real world experience and socialization there! We will definitely keep bringing our dog there for additional socialization and boarding whenever we can. And if you don’t follow them on instagram you are missing out! It was so fun to see all of the dogs progress through the weeks on their instagram stories and you get some tips and behind the scenes of what their training is like. We are so proud to be a part of The Maine Pack!

It’s been a few years since my pups went to The Maine Pack and I’ve been hesitant to write a review. Although our pups did learn a few good skills, like not bolting out the front door, I think the emotional trauma of the program on our dogs was not worth the experience. Our dogs are not food motivated, and never have been, which the trainer did not like and tried to change because that’s a core training technique for her. Ever since our dogs went to the program, one will sometimes attack the other when food is around and has hurt the other before. I can confidently say this behavior is due to the board and train program. Additionally, one came home with an awful burn mark on their neck from the E Collar. I was hopeful that the mark would go away but it hasn’t after 3 years. We were young and naive at the time but I have since learned there are methods and trainers out there that can train without using shock collars or prong collars and only use positive reinforcement which is the route we will go in the future with other pups.

We enrolled our pit/boxer rescue into the 18 day board and train program to address his lease reactivity to other dogs/men/runners, general obedience, and focus in public places. And, boy oh boy, was it worth it. We went from being extremely anxious walking him in secluded places to being able to walk him in public places with complete confidence. Abigail does an extremely good job creating a solid base for obedience and addressing the issues brought to her. Most importantly, she is extremely thorough on teaching you how to employ these practices during the ‘go home’ session. We continue to bring him to The Maine Pack for weekly training days to solidify his socialization with other dogs. He’s continues to become more confident on how to play appropriately, calmer in groups settings, and, impressively, can create space on his own when he’s had enough or becomes overwhelmed in a situation. I would highly recommend her to anyone for training but I would especially recommend her to folks who have dogs with unknown pre-rescue trauma, like ours.