The other day at work, I spent 2 hours using our Cameo Silhouette (similar to a Cricuit) to cut bees for our spring decor! Atlas hungout in an “under” while I worked and the machine was loud above him. This wasn’t his first time (we’ve used this machine for the better part of our 3 years at our job) but it was the first time I decided to video it! He’s always so quiet and calm around it. I have never seen him care about it!

Tried our hand at the eye contact game tonight! He was SO good at it because this dude is LOCKED IN on his girl (me, lol) at all times. In the first video I struggled to hold his bowl and the camera so just ignore the clumsiness and me talking to myself 😂. I didn’t think to set the bowl down and just take a few pieces of food out 🤪🤦🏼‍♀️. He did great which is why I’m still sharing that one. Second time he got up from his place so I redirected him back and he did that immediately!

We took Saffy to a local park for a walk and worked on heeling in a very stimulating environment. We came across someone playing with a very big remote control car and James just had to go see it!😂 When we got close James put Saffy in a sit stay to watch as it come closer. We got an added distraction of a small girl on a foot scooter go by with the owner of the car. Saffy only quietly whined once and immediately corrected after a quiet. She did so good! The experience was much longer than the little video I got. She was very excited after so James had her a down stay with a leash distance walk away and I was able to get some cute leave pictures!😊 She was able to decompress in a calm way.

I had an appointment today that I need James’ support for and was expecting a REALLY long wait that he has a hard time with. They turned out to be good luck charms. The waits in the lobby, exam room and for labs were all short!🤪. And my blood pressure was lower than normal at Dr’s so Saffy works for everyone😂 Anyways, when we got to the clinic Saffy was a little wound up so James worked with her outside. We can’t blame her, there is a lot of strong energy for her to pick up on and we don’t like having to be at this specialty clinic either. When he got her calmed down, she did good in the lobby for the very short wait. In the exam room she happily chewed her bone and stayed down when there was traffic by the door and then went back to her bone. During the appt she just kept right on chewing🤣 I had to labs and she stayed in her down by James when I approached. We then went to dinner and she aced it when a fire truck went by maybe 200 ft away. Caught just the end on video. We took a whimzie treat with us expecting a long wait at the dr so she got that as a reward at dinner. She then just laid there watching the comings and goings. She did so good! Her maturity level is really improving! Not to make this longer but we almost had our first “dogs aren’t allowed” experience!. The hostess said that and then saw Saffy’s vest and asked another employee if SDs could enter the building which of course the answer was yes. We thanked her!! Even though Saffy passed her public access test, she is still sporting her in training badges for a bit longer for those embarrassing puppy brain moments she sometimes has.

Here’s a quick look at rear-end awareness — one of the many things we can build using SPOT! Not only is it cute… it’s incredibly functional. Rear-end awareness teaches your dog how to: • Control their back end • Move with intention • Pivot and position precisely • Stay aligned in heel work • Improve body awareness overall And when it comes to service dog training? It’s HUGE. Tight spaces, proper positioning, public access skills — all of that starts with understanding where their back feet are. If you want to dive deeper, check out the Spot course in the "classroom" section. There are so many cool things you can train beyond just rear-end awareness. Now I’m curious — Have you trained rear-end awareness with your dog? Do you find it helpful? Drop your experience below 👇🐾