Welcome back to Simba Sitting Shenanigans! I do apologize for the late blog last night. I got back very late. I hope you guys still have a chance to read it!

I was worried today’s blog was not going to have enough material, but oh boy, did Simba pull out all the stops! He wanted to make sure you guys were thoroughly entertained!

As I said, last night I got back to the apartment very late. We took a fast walk and headed straight to bed. Simba was so tired, he instantly fell asleep. He mostly slept through the night, waking only a few times, and was easily redirected back to sleep. Around 7 a.m. my alarm went off and I gave Simba his medicine. We then relaxed for a few minutes before, you guessed it, giving him half his breakfast while I got ready for the day.

We enjoyed a beautiful walk on the boardwalk. Simba even behaved himself around the big dogs! I was holding his leash tight so he wouldn’t run up to them. Both owners told me I didn’t have to be afraid of the big dog. I told them I wasn’t afraid of the big dog, I was afraid Simba was going to try to be macho man towards them and upset them. Thankfully, we did not have to experience that today.

I brought Simba back to the apartment, gave Simba the rest of his breakfast, and headed out. When I returned to the apartment, Simba was so excited to see me. He was jumping so high I thought he was going to hit me in the face. Jason really should put Simba into jumping competitions!

We attempted to relax on the couch for a little while but Simba had other ideas. He started barking at his food freezer. I gave Simba a bully stick, which lasted 5.2 seconds. Simba then began barking at the freezer again. I picked up the bully stick holder because there was still a little bit of the bully stick left. Simba grabbed it out of my hand, threw it to the floor, and began barking at the freezer again. I decided it was time for a nice long walk on the boardwalk.

I informed Jason of these shenanigans and he said that Simba was trying to test me. I said I was aware of what he was doing, but that I would not give in to his every bark. That is how he gets spoiled. Unfortunately, there is a culprit on the loose who does spoil Simba and is completely controlled by him. I am attaching the wanted picture. Please let me know if you see him, and turn him in to the police immediately!

Simba had a great time on our walk. We were outside for over half an hour! Silly Simba thought he was going to be lazy and just spend the night stuffing his face. In return, he got extra exercise. He even got to see his friend Emmi on the boardwalk again. We saw a gorgeous sunset, and I even let Simba play in the sand. (See, I am not mean. I just set boundaries.)

I tried taking a video of Simba playing in the sand; however, Simba was a little too excited and my phone went flying! That was the end of my attempts to take videos of him playing on the beach. We headed inside because it was almost time for Simba to have his dinner. Of course, he devoured it so quickly!

Simba then tried to “test” me again. He kept barking at the freezer. I told him that he already had his dinner and was not getting any more. He continued to bark at the freezer while I was eating my dinner so I tried two tactics with him that were quite successful. The first tactic is called planned ignore. Instead of giving in or acknowledging an attention-seeking behavior, you just ignore it until it stops. The other tactic I used was distraction. I threw toys towards Simba so he could play with them and forget that he was trying to get more food. Both tactics worked very well and the barking stopped. Well, until I put on the TV.

I learned that if I sit on the spot of the couch next to the freezer, Simba will bark at it more often. If I sit in the middle of the couch, he is less likely to be looking at the freezer. Simba came and relaxed on my lap while I continued watching “Five Star Weekend.” For the most part, Simba was well behaved. However, there were a bunch of instances where there was a dog on the screen. Simba began barking a lot. Jason gets barking alerts on his phone and was concerned something was wrong with Simba. I had to explain to him that there was a dog on TV but we were working on desensitizing him.

Simba then started barking because he decided to roll his ball under the cart. This is another very annoying behavior, as Simba rolls the ball there on purpose and he is perfectly capable of getting the ball himself. I unstuck his ball and the show finished. We are now watching the dog relaxation video and throwing random toys so that Simba is distracted from barking for more food.

Tune in tomorrow for more Simba Sitting Shenanigans!