Sweet Girl and the Greedy Dog

At 23 months (today!) Emma has turned into a very sweet little girl most of the time. One of the sweet things she does is share... She shares almost everything, but especially food. Her favorite person to share with is Susie, the dog.

Prior to Emma coming along, Susie didn't get a whole lot of people food (but if it hit the floor it was hers). All of that has changed.... Emma will purposely drop things so that Susie can enjoy them. Knowing this, Susie sometimes gets a little greedy and tries to take things before they are offered.

Yesterday, Emma's desire to share and Susie's desire to take ran into one another. I got mad at Susie for being greedy and Emma got mad at me for getting on to Susie. Here's what happen...

Emma had a chocolate chip cookie and was sitting on the stairs enjoying it. I was sitting with her and Susie was at our feet. Emma was sharing her cookie with me and Susie. The first couple of times she wanted to give Susie a bite, she let me break off a piece and put it on the floor. This worked because it let me make sure there wasn't any chocolate and it kept Susie away from the big cookie. Well, Emma decided she wanted to try. She broke off a little piece for Susie and then leaned over to offer Susie her bite. The Greedy dog saw this little bite in one hand and half a cookie in the other.... You can guess which she chose. She grabbed the half cookie and took off running. As I lectured Susie about being a "bad dog" and not stealing food, Emma was apologizing to Susie....

So, today when Emma had her cookie, I sat with her again... But, this time we didn't share. Since Susie resisted the temptation to steal (okay I was right there blocking her, but we're all for positive reinforcement) she got a treat of her own once Emma was done.