About
Amstel K9 LLC and its sister company Amstel Acres LLC are woman owned small businesses in Shiawassee County, MI. Both were founded and are operated by Jessica Fry, who moved to Michigan from The Netherlands in 2009. Originally a horse trainer, Jessica has over 30 years of experience breaking out young stock and correcting behavioral problems in horses. In addition to her love of horses, she has been involved in working breed dogs (specifically Malinois) throughout life. Her love of working breeds originates with her grandfather, who owned several Malinois and German Shepherds during her youth in The Netherlands. While still in The Netherlands, she had the opportunity to spend several years assisting and learning at the local Amsterdam KNPV club.
After moving to the US she started volunteering for a local animal control shelter, performing temperament tests on dogs whose stray holds were up, and spent several years coordinating for the largest nationwide Malinois rescue. While volunteering for this rescue Jessica specialized in the rehabilitation and placement of the ‘difficult’ dogs, i.e. the ones that came into rescue as a result of behavioral issues and whose hopes for a home were slim. During her time as an active coordinator she helped successfully place over 50 Malinois. Although no longer active as a coordinator she still supports the rescue by offering her time and training expertise to coordinators and foster homes at no cost. Jessica strongly supports both ethical breeders as well as the dogs who find themselves in rescue.
Starting in 2023, Jessica has worked under a mentor with over 45 years of experience training and breeding working dogs. During this time she has had the opportunity to assist with training in several sport disciplines including dock diving, nosework, personal protection, and Mondio/French Ring, as well as the training and certification of several local police K9s. She has also had the opportunity to spend two years learning the craft of decoying, focusing on bringing up and developing young/green dogs for personal protection, ringsport, and law enforcement.
Jessica currently has 3 dogs, two male Malinois Red and Hex, and female Dutch Shepherd Javi. Red is Jessica’s main competition dog and holds titles in UKC dock diving and nosework. Javi is up-and-coming, she has been working towards her UKC conformation championship and successfully competed in her first protection tournament last summer. She is currently training for her Mondioring Brevet. Hex is the senior citizen of the pack at 11 years old, he is retired from competition dock diving but is discovering the joys of nosework.
