A routine I developed in NJ and continued in NC was eating an apple when I got home from work. When I moved back to NC, I would greet the babies, grab an apple and go out front with them. The babies did their usual routines. Andy would want to play fetch and Abby would sniff around the yard.
After Abby finished sniffing around she would stand by me and want to play tug of war. Normally by that time, I had finished the apple and chucked the core somewhere towards the edge of the yard. One day I noticed that Abby had picked up an apple core and ate the whole thing. Seeing how much she liked the cores, I started giving her the core directly. She readily snatched it from my hand and gobbled them up.
After a few weeks, Abby would sit right beside me anticipating the core give away. One day, Abby being the alpha that she was, she barked at me to give her the core even though I hadn't finished it. Believe me, that deep booming bark got my attention. I couldn't believe how bold and pushy she was, yet at the same time I thought she was so cute.
In time, Andy acted like he wanted the apple. I broke the core in half one day and gave him half and Abby half. Andy dropped the core and walked away. Abby finished her half and took Andy's. After a few episodes of this, Andy either developed a taste for the apple core or his greed compelled him to eat it so Abby couldn't, because Andy started eating the apple cores. So from then on, I had to break the core in half or else the babies would get jealous if one got the core and the other didn't.
Pandy Please still loves apples to this day and will beg while I am eating my apple. He'll crane his neck straight up and give me that cutey-pie face that makes me weak.
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