MEET OUR TEAM

Tori Parrelly (she/her)

Owner, Co-Founder, Behavior Consultant

Tori’s career in animal welfare started in 2018 - she started fostering dogs through a local rescue and was hooked. Foster-based rescues and shelter work gave Tori most of her early experience with dogs. It was in the shelter setting that she was first introduced to the concept of positive-reinforcement based dog training.

Working with shelter dogs continues to be one of Tori’s passions - during her time as the Shelter Manager at Bark Nation, she helped to create and implement the first volunteer handler training, field trip program, and shelter nosework program to both enrich the shelter dogs and grow the volunteers’ skillsets.

After she adopted her two Belgian Malinois (Dale in 2020, Buddy in 2021), she started training for competitive dog sports - barn hunt, nosework, rally, tricks, and disc dog. This is where Tori’s love for R+ dog training grew, and, ultimately, how Force Free Dale Dog Training was born.

Tori likes sprucing up her yard, riding her bike, cooking and trying new restaurants, and hanging out with her dogs: Doogie, Dale, and Buddy.

Rachel Burger (she/her)

Co-Founder, Behavior Consultant

Rachel started working in animal welfare in 2020, where she began volunteering at a local shelter and fell in love. Within the shelter setting, Rachel provides enrichment to shelter dogs and helps to set every dog up for success both in the shelter and as they transition into their forever homes. 

Aside from working with dogs, Rachel spent 8 years as a special education teacher, where she created and implemented specialized individual education plans and also shared her passion for dogs with her students! Rachel organized a therapy dog program within her school and loved experiencing the therapeutic effects dogs can have on both children and adults. 

Aside from training dogs, Rachel also has a growing passion for photographing them! As a hobbyist photographer, she loves capturing special candid moments between pets and their guardians. 

When she isn’t training dogs or snapping photos, Rachel spends her time with her husband, Kyle, daughter, Maisie, and senior shepherd, Nala. 

Megan Synk (she/her)

Behavior Consultant

Megan started her career in animal welfare in 2018 serving in various capacities: foster/adoption counselor, volunteer coordinator, behavior board member, shelter technician, and R+ trainer, to name a few. Megan has been dedicated to helping dogs and their caregivers build a mutually beneficial relationship with a foundation of love, respect, and communicative understanding. 

Megan’s passion for shelter dogs is evident, and she loves cases where she can help a newly adopted shelter dog transition into their new life with their family. In 2022, Megan was featured in articles in both HuffPost and Today.com for her innovative thinking to help reduce stress for shelter dogs.

When Megan is not working her full-time job, volunteering, or training, you can find her spending time with her husband, Brendan, and two bulldozer dogs, Gus and Bowser. She has dedicated her pet professional career to her late and beloved rescue dog named Starsky.

Megan’s relevant education and certifications include: