Mary Ray is a professional
dog trainer
Dog training is the application of behavior analysis which uses the environmental events of antecedents (trigger for a behavior) and consequences to modify the dog behavior, either for it to assist in specific activities or undertake particular ...
located in the
UK. She is generally credited with creation of
heelwork to music
Heelwork to music is a dog sport similar to musical canine freestyle.
United Kingdom
The sport is officially recognised by the Kennel Club. The sport has evolved since the early 1990s when obedience handler Mary Ray first demonstrated the spo ...
in the United Kingdom.
Obedience
Ray has qualified nine
dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...
s to work Championship ‘C’ Obedience; seven
Border Collie
The Border Collie is a Scottish breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, they are descended from landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but became standardised in the Angl ...
s and two
Belgian Shepherds (Tervurens). She has won 59
Kennel Club Obedience Challenge Certificates with five of her dogs and 38
Reserve Certificates. Ray's Belgian Shepherd, Roxy, was the first Belgian Shepherd in the UK to become an
Obedience Champion and she also won the
Bitch Obedience Championship at Crufts. Ray's also very well known
Border Collie
The Border Collie is a Scottish breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, they are descended from landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but became standardised in the Angl ...
Red Hot Toddy was the winner of the Dog Obedience Championship at Crufts.
The other main British obedience competition culminating in a final was the
Pro Dogs Obedience Stakes. A dog was only allowed to win this competition once in its lifetime and Ray won this on two occasions, once with Toddy and once with Roxy. This competition has now been renamed the Open ‘C’ Charity Competition.
Agility
Ray's agility career started in 1980, just after the birth of agility in the UK. She has either won or been in the finals of every major sponsored British agility competition. This included winning the prestigious Pedigree Agility Stakes with her Border Collie Pepperland Hot Chocolate. She holds the record for qualifying the most dogs on the most occasions for this prestigious final from c. 1982 to 2006. She has also been a member of the
Rugby Dog Training Club agility team, which has competed at the
Crufts Team Agility Finals on many occasions and a member of the winning team on two occasions, the last being 2004. Ray was also a member of the team that qualified for Crufts 2000. She has also been a member of the
Rugby Dog Training Club Crufts Flyball Team, competing in the finals at the Crufts Dog Show.
At Crufts in 2004, Ray and Myndoc Simply Teena were winners of the Crufts Mini Agility Championships (Tina is owned by Mrs Shirley Turner but handled and trained by Ray).
Heelwork to music
Although there are conflicting stories about where heelwork to music started, because some groups of obedience enthusiasts trained with music playing in the late 1980s, the first person who actually put together a public performance of heelwork to music was Ray, at a demonstration event in 1990. She did this again in 1992 and thereafter has done it every year (as of 2006) at Crufts. Since c. 1998, Ray has given a demonstration in the Main Ring at
Crufts
Crufts is an international dog show held annually in the United Kingdom, first held in 1891. Organised and hosted by The Kennel Club, it is the largest show of its kind in the world.
Crufts is centred on a championship conformation show for do ...
on Best in Show Night, televised by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. It was announced that the 2018 event would be Mary Ray's final Crufts heelwork to music performance.
''. Ray's heelwork to music routine is featured, live from Crufts on BBC1 every year (as of 2006).
During 2003, Ray featured as the lead trainer in an episode of ''Faking It''. Rob Archer, the subject of the programme, spent almost three weeks living with Ray and husband, Dave, at their home. When it was broadcast in early 2004, it had the largest audience ratings for any ''
'' show to date.
Ray has been married to her husband, Dave, since c. 1979. They live in
, UK. As of 2006, their family consisted of eight dogs (no children): five Border Collies, a Lurcher and two Shetland Sheepdogs.