Jake misses Tim :(.

Jake was...a bad dog today!  I think he is missing Tim, who had to go to Wisconsin (I think?) to pick up an antique tractor he had bought.  He was fine at the feed lot, but when I went back up to the house to take care of the animals there...oh boy.  First one of the llamas was stuck.  It had gotten between the temporary gates set up to keep the calves separate from the rest of the livestock, and the cement retaining wall.  There was a post driving into the ground behind him that he had squeezed past but he couldn't back up past it then.  I finally got it removed (which hurt like the dickens since I got kicked pretty good in the ribs yesterday at Tae Kwon Do practice), and he still couldn't figure out that he could back up now - apparently he had been in there since last night and had tried backing out already.  Jake COULD NOT LEAVE HIM ALONE.  Whining, barking, carrying on, having a fit...he was really 'worried' about that llama being in there.  I could barely get near it to try and persuade it to go, and Jake was just pissing it off, except there was nothing the llama could do except stay there and take everything thrown at him.  I drug Jake off twice (after yelling at him several times for getting into the barnyard, which he knows to stay out of) before finally figuring he needed chained up if I had any hope of getting that llama free.  I grabbed hold of his collar, scolding him the entire way - then he turned around and tried to bite me to get free.  I smacked him good (I only use physical punishment like that when he bites - can't give ANY indication that is tolerated behavior, especially when he's using it in that way...normally he just gets too excited or playful) and held his muzzle shut, forced him to look in my eyes and told him that if he ever acted like that again, I'd duct tape his muzzle shut and leave it that way for five years!!!  I think he got the jist of the threat, hehe, even if he didn't understand exactly what I was saying.  He was still being antsy and pulling away but he didn't bite again.  I got him chained up, got the llama free, then set him loose again.

And that isn't the end of the story.  After that, a couple guys arrived to deliver two heifers...oh great.  Jake runs up to the truck, as usual, jump up on the door, which he knows not to do...I start yelling at him for that, and for trying to jump into their truck.  I explained to them that Tim was gone and he had decided to misbehave today.  I showed them where they needed unloaded, Jake followed us into the field of course then tried to take off to chase after cattle...had to yell "NO!" several times but he eventually came back, where I grabbed hold of his collar and held him there.  When they got in the field and turned around and started unloading, Jake was getting more and more frantic, he just had to know what was going on...and of course me holding onto his collar just got him more wound up, but I couldn't exactly let go, now could I?  He was dragging me forward with both my heels dug into the dirt of that field.  I kept him restrained long enough for the truck & trailer to get out of the field, then just let him go...my arm was getting tired!  I tricked him into my truck by just holding the door open...he loves truck rides, and we didn't need him inside someone else's truck...he got in, and I took him home with me, put him in the kennel so he could wind back down.  He drunk some water, tried to figure out how to get out (he didn't understand the kennel, really), and when he realized he couldn't, he rested, even slept a little.  For the rest of the day he was a much better behaved dog.