Tricia Baker, CPDT-KA, 20 Paws Dog Training Owner and Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor. After a 20 year corporate career in marketing, she took her love for animals and started her career as a teacher of dog training. Tricia’s belief is that a well-behaved dog adds significant value to our lives. She and her five dogs are involved in many dog activities, but most especially therapy work. Miki, her 9 year old Pomeranian is Tricia’s demonstration dog at work. Miki has earned the American Kennel Club (AKC) Award of Canine Excellence (ACE) for Therapy. He has earned the highest therapy dog title offered by the AKC The Distinguished Therapy dog Title. He has earned his AKC Canine Good Citizen (CGC) certification, along with the Novice Trick Dog title. Miki is a certified AIR Therapy Dog: Paws For Minds testing dog.

In addition to being a dog trainer, Tricia is Co-Director of AIR™ Attitudes In Reverse®, a non-profit whose mission is to start conversations about mental health issues and student suicide prevention. Certified therapy dogs are a big part of Tricia’s advocacy work in schools, as petting a dog releases oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine and lowers cortisol level.

Tricia works with school counselors, administrators and school staff to help train and certify school facility dogs, where school staff utilizes trained certified therapy dogs for mentoring and motivating students and to enhance the educational environment. Through AIR Therapy Dogs, Tricia presents a complete, robust program for school facility dogs, training the human to work with his/her dog in a challenging environment, always keeping the safety and well-being of the dog in front of mind, while complying to regulations.

Tricia trains all therapy dog handlers in Youth Mental Health First Aid. It is critical that all handlers have a good understanding of what young people are thinking of and possibly struggling with. The AIR Therapy Dogs and their volunteer handlers are trained for crisis results and have been called into schools after the tragic loss of a student, providing comfort and aid in the grieving process.

Teaching humans how to have the best relationship with their dogs is what brings joy to Tricia and that shows through in her training classes.