Dan Compagna is a Saco, ME native and graduated from Thornton Academy in 1978. He is currently the sole proprietor of From the Ground Up Landscaping. As a landscape professional with over twenty years of experience, he is dedicated to providing the best craftsmanship on his many projects. These include grounds maintenance at the Wardwell Gardens and installation of an innovative heated driveway on a private estate in Falmouth.

As a young man, Dan had a passion for restoring old cars. His ’57 Chevy (purchased at the tender age of 14) is a great source of pride. In fact, his friends still tease him about that car and how he was hesitant to take girls for rides in the sparkling and lovingly restored vehicle. 
 
His love of dogs came at an early age when he and his family adopted a wiry – and very tough – miniature Schnauzer named Schultz. Like many, Dan feels a house is not a home without a dog in residence. After a particularly challenging life event over ten years ago, Dan found himself at the Westbrook Animal Shelter in search of a new companion. He went in looking for a goofy lab, but came out with an energetic Border Collie who chose Dan from the many visitors hoping to find the perfect companion.

This Border Collie took quite readily to riding in the truck with his new “dad” and during that first ride placed his black head worshipfully on Dan’s lap. From that point on, the two were inseparable. As such, the only name that seemed fitting for this dog was Shadow.

The ever-watchful Shadow stayed loyally with Dan as he built a house in Standish and became well loved by family, friends and all who knew him. Man and dog moved into the house on “9/11”, as this seemed the most appropriate thing to do given the horrendous events of that day. It was a time to pull together and place family first. Shadow was Dan’s family.

Dan quickly realized that Shadow was a very special dog. He was beyond smart, beautiful and seemed to know how Dan was feeling at every moment. Sadly, Shadow passed away in December 2007. While the dog was no longer among us, he had left Dan with an unrelenting appreciation of Border Collies. It took a long time for him to get over the loss of his beloved friend and pet, but after some prodding by Valerie and a little web surfing, he stumbled onto a photo of a gorgeous blue merle named Mojo that was up for adoption in northern Maine.

The two have spent the past year getting to know each other and look forward to many happy years on the actual and soon-to-be Working Dog Farm. Dan claims he wants to be “just a farmhand” at Working Dog Farm, even though he is the idea man behind Working Dog farm, a skilled carpenter, groundskeeper and can generally do most anything.

Dan with Mojo and his parents, brother and sister-in-law at an agility Fun Run at Aquaboggan, Saco.