My life before dogs
If you are curious about Christina Gray and the background of Great Heart K9 (GHK9) dog training, then this post is for you!
In our bio, we mention that Christina was a dance teacher and a political science teacher before she was a trainer. Many dog trainers have had previous careers and many even continue to maintain them while also training dogs. These careers can often inform how we train dogs. It may not seem clear that dance and political science can help you train dogs - but let’s have Christina share how they have helped her.
Dance Teacher and Performer
From the age of 10, I began to seriously train in classical ballet and modern dance. Later, I trained in modern or contemporary dance, performance dance, contact improv, and more.
As a student, I spent hours practicing movements over and over again. I learned to control my face, breathing, momentum, and body so that I would be able to repeat the same quality of performance over and over again. I developed stamina for repetition, and for mental focus. I learned to memorize movement sequences. Learning to dance is finding joy and patience in repetitive and potentially boring drills. Working with dogs requires a similar specificity of movement and patience with repetition. I actually love fine-tuning a dog’s understanding of a skill. That is why I offer my tutoring service! I think it’s fun!
Being a dancer also requires successful collaboration with others: other dancers, musicians, stagehands, technicians, costumers…. it takes many professionals to make performance art happen. I learned as a dancer that respect and collaboration strengthens the entire experience of creation and artistry. Now, building and maintaining a team from veterinarian to dog walker that can help you and your dog with our training goals is something that I love to do. I cannot do and be everything you and your dog need - but I can help you build an amazing team of pet-care professionals and work with them to create a great support system.
I learned was a dancer and performer to improvise and adjust quickly so that the performance continued without interruption even if things were not going as expected. Part of learning to dance is to learn to move through space in predictable patterns even though we are always moving through an unpredictable world. Dog training (and life in general) requires flexibility, improvisation, and creativity. I celebrate the variety of ways that different people with different skills, minds, bodies and experiences can move through the same dance material. I love the individuality of each of my human and dog clients as well. Dance performance and teaching dance helped me learn to be creative in a supportive and problem-solving way - and I use this every day to help my dog-human teams build a system of training that works for them and that they enjoy, without sacrificing individuality.
A beautiful part of dance is learning to speak through movement (not just words) and learning to listen to the body language of others. In dog training, we need to be aware of how our body, our face, our tone of voice, and even breathing may be communicating with our dogs. The more consistent and clear we can be, the better we can approach and work with dogs.
I use creative problem solving in my dog training.
I love the calming precise process of training dogs to perform difficult skills.
I use my ability to focus, be precise, and my understanding of body language (dogs’ main language) every time I work with a dog.
I celebrate the odd, the difficult, the weird, the silly behavior (in dogs and people) as potentially beautiful expressions of who they are and what they can add to the world. I believe that these expressions can be shaped through practice into collaborative performance and practice that is healthy and fun for the community.
That’s want dance training did for me, and that’s what dog training can also do!
Professor of Political Science
coming soon…. the short notes are:
Scientific process expert: I can read current research on behavior science and understand it, evaluate it, apply it to your case. I can use this knowledge to problem solve and hone in on the important aspects of your dog’s behavior challenges
Trained expert in social behavior and decision making: I have studied and produced new knowledge using neuroscience, social psychology, game theory, sociology, linguistics, philosophy, ethical theory and more. Dogs and humans are social creatures, and I work with the decisions and learning of both species as a dog trainer
I have run many research projects that have lasted up to 5 years long, and so creating a training program for your dog is something that I can approach with a similar standard for understanding how to work within a complex system with an organized strategy for information gathering, testing assumptions based on data and observation, and assessing progress toward short, medium and long-term goals.
Scholars are ‘forever students’. I will always be learning, always be curious, always be ready to integrate new knowledge. But I never wanted to stay isolated in the academy. I love knowledge because it can inspire real change in our lived experience. I want to share what I know to make the world better.
My academic research was on human rights advocates and diplomatic workers, focusing on the ethical value societies places on that work.
