After a 20 year corporate career in marketing, Tricia Baker took her love for animals and started her career as a dog trainer. She is one of 2,000 Certified Professional Dog Trainers-Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) in the world, an American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Evaluator and Certified Bright & Beautiful Therapy Dog Evaluator. She provides all levels of training for dogs and their owners, including instruction for dogs to become certified therapy animals. Tricia’s belief is that a well-behaved dog adds significant value to our lives. She and her six dogs are involved in many activities, but most especially therapy. Dogs are a very integral part of Tricia’s work with AIR, including educational programs at schools and presentations at conferences hosted by a variety of organizations, including the New Jersey chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, New Jersey Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association, NAMI Mercer Harvest of Hope and Mercer County Technical Schools’ nursing program.
Petting a dog releases all good de-stressing brain chemicals, and she shares this fact with her diverse audiences. Miki, her 8-year-old Pomeranian, is Tricia’s partner and demonstration dog at work. Tricia has another certified therapy dog, 16-year-old Luna, a Pit Bull mix. Three year old Misha, an Old-Time Scotch Collie, came into the Baker household with the specific purpose of training to become a therapy dog. In addition, one-year-old Henry Pomchester was donated by his breeder and five-month-old Goober was recently adopted – both Pomeranians –to carry on the AIR mission. Tricia is a certified Youth Mental Health First Aider and Youth Mental Health First Aid instructor.
“No child should ever be embarrassed or afraid to seek treatment for a biological illness.”