Christy Hutson has spent more than 30 years working with animals, building a career around veterinary medicine, animal welfare, training, behavior, and—most importantly—the dogs themselves.

Christy holds a bachelor’s degree in veterinary technology and a master’s degree in animal behavior, combining formal education with decades of hands-on experience working with animals. Her career has included working as a veterinary technician, shelter manager, dog trainer, and instructor in a Veterinary Assistant program.

Christy joined Great Neck Doggie Daycare & Boarding in July 2019 and serves as General Manager, overseeing the daily care of our dogs, staff training, client relations, behavior assessments, facility operations, and just about everything else that keeps GNDD running smoothly.

Her background in veterinary medicine and animal behavior gives her a unique perspective on canine health, behavior, safety, and enrichment and has helped shape many of the policies and procedures used at GNDD today.

Christy believes dog daycare should be much more than putting a group of dogs together and letting them play. Every dog is an individual, and safe group play requires understanding behavior, recognizing subtle changes, providing structure, and knowing when a dog needs a break. Her goal is to make GNDD a place where clients can leave their dogs knowing they are being cared for by people who truly know them.

Outside of GNDD, dogs are still very much the center of Christy’s world. She is heavily involved in competitive dock diving and travels throughout the East Coast competing in multiple dock-diving disciplines.

And then there are the girls.

Christy’s four-legged family includes Sapper, her 8-year-old Belgian Malinois; Sawyer, her 7-year-old Dutch Shepherd; Sunnie, her 10-year-old Belgian Malinois; and Surf, her 3-year-old Labrador Retriever. Sapper, Sawyer, and Surf are competitive dock-diving dogs, while Sunnie has earned the right to supervise the chaos from a more sensible distance.

If Christy isn’t at GNDD, there is a pretty good chance you’ll find her standing beside a dock somewhere while one of the girls prepares to launch herself into a pool.

After seven years at GNDD, Christy knows many of our clients—and their dogs—like family.

She takes enormous pride in the relationships she’s built with them and in the team that cares for them every day.