Ami Insley

My name is Ami Insley and I’m a graduate of the University of Tennessee. I have a Bachelors of Science in Animal Science and I’ve worked with animals since I was in high school. I started out volunteering at animal shelters and my first job was as a kennel assistant at a large boarding facility in South Carolina. After moving to Knoxville, Tennessee for college, I picked up a part time job at Forest Park Veterinary Clinic as a kennel worker. For nearly four years, I learned not only how to handle dogs, but also a good deal of information about how to care for a dog throughout their entire life. I then took that knowledge and expanded it after being hired as a full time employee at Village Veterinary Medical Center in Farragut. I also expanded my furry family by adopting an owner surrendered, mostly blind Cornish Rex cat that I named Wisp. I sometimes think she’s a dog in a cat body because she fetches and definetly understands what it means when I change my tone of voice or use body language with her.

Along with my cat, Village gave me a good deal of insight on how to communicate with clients and how to successfully run a kennel. I was also introduced to a myriad of dogs, young, old, trained, untrained, hyper, and super mellow. This exposure to so many dogs really helped me to define what traits I prefer in a dog and in May of 2017, I adopted my first dog (as an adult), Thunder. Thunder is an adult German Shepherd who is goofy and tends to over think things when he’s excited. Adopting him changed my life in more ways than I could explain. I grew up with a twelve pound chihuahua/pug mix, so adopting a 114# GSD was certainly a huge difference. I wasn’t prepared to manage such a large dog and I quickly found out that he is as strong as an ox. Before I knew it, Thunder was bolting out of doors and hauling me around when on a leash. My roommates told me the only way he could continue living with us was if I got him under control. I recalled seeing a Sit Means Sit booth at Village’s annual pet fair back in April and decided to look up the number on Google. I got in contact with Jimmy and we set up a free demo.

To be totally honest, I drool over working dogs. I have always been a sucker for Border Collies and I may have been sold on the program just with the first siting of Jimmy’s dog Dolly. Even so, I sat through the demo with awe as Dolly and Tea worked. And then to make it really cemented in my mind that this was what I wanted for Thunder, Jimmy had me put a collar on my boy and we worked him with the start of “come.” I had only had Thunder for a week at this point and he didn’t even know his own name but Jimmy showed me how to get him to focus on me and do what I asked. So we signed up. After a couple of lessons, Jimmy asked me if I was interested in becoming a trainer and working for him. I didn’t have any real experience with dog training, but prior to adopting Thunder, I had been considering learning how to train dogs. It seemed rather perfect that Jimmy should ask me this. I mulled it over for a little while before agreeing, but I’m truly glad that I did. I have continued with Thunder’s training and have applied my knowledge to train my foster dog. I also look forward to training my own demo dog and working with clients to help them have a positive relationship with their own pups.