Lizzy Chock is known for her work at the Villalobos Rescue Center on Animal Planet’s reality series Pit Bulls & Parolees.
On the show, she helps rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome pit bulls alongside the Torres family. Lizzy is also part of that family by marriage – she wed Tia Torres’s adopted son Keli‘i “Moe” Chock – making her both a key employee and a daughter-in-law within the Villalobos pack.
Over the years, viewers have come to appreciate Lizzy’s dedication to pit bull rescue and her compassionate training approach.
Background and Path to Villalobos
Lizzy grew up in Syracuse, New York, where her passion for animals, especially pit bulls, took root early. In 2011 she became an avid volunteer with Cuse Pit Crew, a Syracuse-based nonprofit that educates the public about pit bulls and fights breed stereotypes.
This advocacy work gave her a foundation in community outreach and dog rescue. Not long after, Lizzy’s path led her to New Orleans to join Tia Torres’s Villalobos Rescue Center (which had relocated from California to Louisiana in 2011).
By immersing herself in the rescue’s work, Lizzy found her calling. She started as a volunteer and then as staff, working in various roles over the years. Reflecting on that journey, Lizzy noted that “all roads led back to dogs.” After trying other things, she embraced a life at Villalobos and has now spent over a decade there.
Lizzy’s integration into the Pit Bulls & Parolees team meant not only caring for dogs but also appearing on camera as part of the cast.
She quickly became a familiar face to viewers after her first appearances around 2012–2013. Her upbringing in upstate New York gave her a different perspective that she brought to the diverse team in New Orleans. She even connected with Pit Bulls & Parolees through a family link: her brother, Vinny Scollo, is a dog trainer who had been involved in similar work.
In fact, Vinny’s involvement in dog training (he was even a guest on the KobeCast podcast) helped inspire Lizzy’s interest in the field. This family influence, combined with her hands-on experience at Villalobos, set the stage for Lizzy’s growth into an expert dog handler.
Her Role at the Rescue Center
At Villalobos Rescue Center, Lizzy wears many hats.
Officially, she has served as a dog trainer and adoption coordinator, but in practice her role extends to just about anything the dogs need. She helps run day-to-day operations at the rescue: training dogs from difficult backgrounds, evaluating their temperaments, and matching them with suitable adoptive families.
Lizzy is often the point person for processing adoption applications and interviewing prospective owners, ensuring that each dog finds the right home. She also pitches in on emergency rescues, sometimes responding to urgent calls to save abandoned or endangered dogs throughout the New Orleans area.
On Pit Bulls & Parolees, viewers see Lizzy tackling a variety of challenging scenarios. One moment she might be shown crawling under an abandoned house to reach a frightened, stray pit bull; the next, she’s calmly handling a rowdy kennel of dogs during feeding time.
In one episode, for example, Lizzy led the rescue of a pit bull that had been abandoned, and she even confronted the former owner about neglecting the dog. Her courage and no-nonsense compassion in such situations demonstrated her commitment to every animal’s well-being.
Beyond rescues, Lizzy frequently appears on camera demonstrating proper training techniques. She is a proponent of positive reinforcement and “force-free” training methods – fans might recall her wearing a “Do No Harm” trainer T-shirt on the show, signaling her philosophy of humane, reward-based dog training.
Lizzy’s responsibilities also include mentoring the parolee employees in dog handling. Part of Villalobos’s mission is to give parolees a second chance through work, and Lizzy helps train these men and women in kennel care and training skills. Whether it’s teaching a newcomer how to safely leash a strong dog or supervising group dog-walks, she serves as a patient teacher. Her guidance helps the parolees build confidence and empathy, which furthers the center’s dual mission of rescuing dogs and rehabilitating people.
Lizzy’s leadership in these day-to-day duties earned her the respect of Tia and the rest of the team – on the show, Tia often refers to Lizzy as one of the “bosses” who keeps Villalobos running smoothly.
Pit Bull Advocacy Work
Long before Pit Bulls & Parolees gave her a platform, Lizzy was already devoted to pit bull advocacy. As noted, she got her start with the Cuse Pit Crew in Syracuse, engaging in community education to dispel myths about pit bulls. Through that group, she helped organize events and campaigns to “teach the public about pit bulls” and promote responsible ownership.
This early work instilled in her the importance of outreach: changing minds about a misunderstood breed can save dogs’ lives. Lizzy carried that advocacy spirit with her to Villalobos, where every rescue and adoption is an opportunity to change perceptions.
Joining Pit Bulls & Parolees expanded Lizzy’s reach to a national (even international) audience. Viewers saw her hands-on approach with the dogs, which often spoke louder than any brochure or lecture. By showcasing pit bulls as loving, trainable pets – even those that came from abuse or neglect – Lizzy helped challenge the breed’s negative image.
Her calm, knowledgeable demeanor on camera made her an effective ambassador for pit bulls. For instance, when handling an anxious or “aggressive”-seeming dog, Lizzy would explain the dog’s body language and needs, educating the audience about how fear (not “bad temperament”) was usually at the root of the behavior. Scenes of her successfully rehabilitating these dogs into tail-wagging, adoptable pets were powerful advocacy in themselves.
Outside of the TV show, Lizzy has engaged in public outreach and education as well. She has contributed to blogs and social media to share training tips and stories from the rescue. She even started a personal blog called “Crate to Crib” – a project through which she shared advice on integrating rescue dogs with family life (particularly useful as she became a mother herself).
Through blog posts and Instagram updates, Lizzy offered guidance on topics like crate training (her blog’s title cleverly alluding to teaching a dog to go from the crate to eventually sleeping calmly near the baby’s crib) and how to prepare pit bulls for life with infants and children. By using her own life experiences as content, she continued her advocacy in a relatable way for fellow dog owners.
In recent years, Lizzy has become a certified professional dog trainer with multiple credentials, further bolstering her advocacy with formal expertise. She earned certifications as a VSA-CDT (Victoria Stilwell Academy Certified Dog Trainer), a CSAT (Certified Separation Anxiety Trainer), and an SDC (Certified Service Dog Coach), and she even completed an advanced Aggression in Dogs Masters course.
Gaining these credentials has allowed her to take her pit bull advocacy to another level – she can work one-on-one with dogs facing behavioral challenges (like separation anxiety or reactivity) and help keep them in their homes. In essence, Lizzy has evolved from an on-screen rescuer to an all-around canine coach whose mission is not just rescuing pit bulls, but setting them up for success for life.
Family Connections
Lizzy’s role at Villalobos is intertwined with her family life.
She met Keli‘i “Moe” Chock through their shared work at the rescue center. Moe is one of Tia Torres’s twin adopted sons and has been a fixture on Pit Bulls & Parolees since the beginning. Working long days together rescuing dogs and running the sanctuary, Moe and Lizzy formed a close bond.
The couple married on September 19, 2015, in a ceremony featured in Season 8 of the show. Longtime viewers will remember that episode as a particularly heartwarming one: not only did it celebrate Lizzy and Moe’s love, but it also paid tribute to their beloved pit bulls (they even incorporated their dogs into the wedding celebration).
Tia Torres gave a tear-jerking speech at the ceremony, welcoming Lizzy into the family and likening her son Moe to a transformed “butterfly” thanks to Lizzy’s influence.
After marrying Moe, Lizzy officially became part of the Torres family, and the rescue truly became a family business. Fans have seen Lizzy and Tia team up to strategize difficult rescues, and Lizzy joining Mariah or Tania in comforting distressed dogs. The family’s philosophy is “all hands on deck,” and Lizzy has exemplified that by stepping into whatever role is needed – from managing the kennels to fronting fundraiser efforts – all while being a supportive wife to Moe and a doting mother.
Lizzy and Moe have two children together. Their eldest is a son, Nakoa, born in 2017, and they welcomed a second child (a daughter) in late 2020.
There are touching moments on the show where Lizzy’s son Nakoa toddles around with a gentle pit bull by his side, showing how the “next generation” is learning the importance of compassion for animals. Lizzy has mentioned that raising her children in that environment is important to her – it teaches them empathy and the value of giving second chances to both people and pets.
It’s truly a family affair at Villalobos, and Lizzy stands at that intersection of family and mission.
Life Beyond the Show
In 2022, after 18 seasons, Pit Bulls & Parolees aired its final episodes. The show’s end marked the conclusion of an era, but it was far from the end of Lizzy’s involvement with rescue work.
With the cameras off, Lizzy shifted focus to leveraging her years of experience in new ways. She had already taken the initiative to become a formally certified dog trainer during the later years of the show, and now she has parlayed that into her own training business. Lizzy founded “It’s For Life Dog Training,” through which she offers training and behavioral consulting to dog owners.
As a trainer, she specializes in issues like puppy training, rescue dog adjustment, separation anxiety, and even service dog coaching. Notably, she provides virtual training sessions and consultations – a flexibility that likely arose from working with clients both in New Orleans and back home in New York.
In fact, Lizzy offers free training advice to those who adopt dogs from Villalobos and from the CNY (Central New York) SPCA, showing that she’s maintaining her ties to both her Pit Bulls & Parolees family and her Syracuse roots. Her goal, as stated on her training site, is to “promote enrichment, bonding, and healing” between owners and pets through positive methods.
Behind the scenes, Lizzy has navigated some personal changes as well. By late 2022 and into 2023, fans began to notice that Lizzy was appearing less frequently in Villalobos’ social media updates featuring the family.
Seperation Rumors
On her own Instagram, she quietly dropped “Chock” from her last name, reverting to Lizzy Scollo, and photos showed her spending time in upstate New York with her children – without Moe. These clues fueled speculation that Lizzy and Moe had separated.
Indeed, it appears that after roughly eight years of marriage, the couple decided to go their separate ways. In a November 2023 discussion, a Pit Bulls & Parolees fan noted Lizzy’s name change and relocation, suggesting she and the kids were living in New York apart from Moe.
Other fans chimed in that Tia still lovingly referred to Lizzy as her “daughter-in-law” on social media around that time, implying an amicable situation despite the split(Subsequently, Tia Torres reportedly confirmed in a Facebook Live Q&A that Moe and Lizzy are no longer together and have each found new partners, though both remain part of the extended Villalobos family.)
As of 2025, Lizzy Scollo continues to devote herself to dog rescue and training, just in a different capacity and location. She has returned to her home state of New York, where she collaborates with local rescue groups and helps run a pit bull training program for shelter dogs. Importantly, she hasn’t severed ties with Villalobos – Lizzy often promotes Villalobos Rescue Center events and adoptable dogs on her platforms, and she provides remote training support for dogs taken in by Villalobos.
In interviews, Lizzy has shared that while she misses the daily hustle of the New Orleans rescue yard, she’s embracing this new chapter as an opportunity to spread the rescue’s message in new communities. Her children are growing up around their maternal family in New York, and Lizzy is balancing motherhood with entrepreneurship.
It’s a busy life, but if anyone can handle wrangling kids and pit bulls at the same time, it’s Lizzy.
