Teaching Melanie to Put Away Her Toys

Despite all the other more important lessons Melanie needs to perfect (me as well), today I taught her to get her tug toy and put it away. The tug ring is literally used for her and me (and my husband as well) to tug and play. It helps keep her jaws and teeth strong and my husband thinks the tugging with her is good for strengthening his shoulder (the one he had replaced). Yesterday, I put it in a felt stool with a removable cover and showed her where it was and told her to take it out. It only took a moment for her to look through the mostly empty box and realizing I was encouraging her to take it out, she grabbed it and off to play she went. Today, I wanted to see if she'd remembe taking it out, which she did in a flash. After we were tired of tugging and not wanting Melanie to chew on it, I encouraged her to put it back in the box. Again, it took a moment, a soft voice, and she dropped it right in the box. What fun! She got treats!!