San Antonio's Famous Riverwalk

I'm so pleased that Jeannie finally brought me to the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Ben and Jeannie have been talking a lot about their move to Chicago, Illinois in August 2011.  They worry about how I'll react to downtown life in a very busy city, so they plan to take me on some downtown San Antonio walks before the move to get me used to the hustle and bustle of city life.  

It's very easy to live in San Antonio and never encounter any tall buildings, crowded sidewalks or noisy traffic.  In fact, I've been doing a pretty good job of avoiding downtown San Antonio my entire life.  Today we finally ventured to the San Antonio Riverwalk where lots of SA residents go jogging.  I have been known to tackle joggers like a powerful Linebacker! Jeannie has to grip my leash very tightly to keep me from springing up to give a friendly, yet terrifying hello to neighborhood joggers.  Like I've said before, she has A LOT to learn about handling doggies.  Up until now, she's been a bit too worried to encounter joggers on the Riverwalk.  There's a good chance that I might knock them right into the water if I'm not careful.  She got lucky -- there were no joggers around this afternoon when we went down those wonderful stairs and onto the San Antonio Riverwalk between St. Mary's and E. Martin St.

Here's a map of the route we took:

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Once we got to E. Martin, we retraced our steps all the way back to the downtown dog park at the intersection of Camden and Dallas.  I actually started our afternoon outing here at the dog park, but Jeannie thought I was behaving too crazy to stay.  In fact, the last few times I went to Camp Bow Wow, the counselors have said the same thing.  They say that I play so aggressively (mouthy, not growly) and rough that they're nervous I might start a dog fight.  Here's a terrible secret I've been keeping from my blog friends -- on Friday when Ben's daddy was here, I actually got kicked out of Camp Bow Wow for this!  Jeannie was so shocked that she kept asking the staff member who called her "We're taking about Mayli, right? The big black dog -- Mayli? The impossibly sweet black dog?"  It was definitely me they were talking about.  And until this afternoon, Jeannie had been one of those owners who was in denial about my naughty habits. She hates running into these owners at the dog park, by the way, and feels like a huge hypocrite.

She asked me to stop twice and even put my leash on me once after a particularly chomp-tastic doggy came into the park.  After the second time she had to chase me around wildly yelling my name, we left.  Wham bam.  Jeannie had had it!  Since she'd bought about an hour on the parking meter, we ventured into downtown San Antonio.  A lot of my bad habits have been on Jeannie's mind today.  I can't wait for April to roll around and for training classes to begin  -- she could really use some help!

Here's a video of me walking nicely along the Riverwalk.  Jeannie was trying this technique of stopping dead in her tracks every time I put tension on the leash and waiting until I gave slack before proceeding.  What do you guys think? Is it working?

A weekend full of "Hellos!"

Ben's daddy is still here visiting with my humans, Ben and Jeannie.  I'm so glad that I got to meet him!  He's slated to leave tomorrow in the late morning and I know that I'm going to miss him terribly when he goes.

When he first got here, we played this very confusing, but exhilarating game of ball.  I have this green squeaky ball that drives me nuts. It squeaks.  It bounces.  It does it all! Just after meeting me, Ben's daddy grabbed the green squeaky ball up and hid it behind his back.  After a moment, he pretended to throw it very hard into the next room.  Being a typical doggy, I fall for this trick every time.  Ben's daddy is very clever with doggies and used this weakness of mine to create a variant of "hide-n-seek."  Once I was convinced that the ball had been thrown, he squeaked it from behind his back. What a prankster!  This made me so excited!  I danced and pranced and leaned against Ben's daddy with glee until he let me chomp the ball again.  After a moment of chomping bliss, he grabbed it up and started the whole game over again!

While Ben and his daddy spent some time together, Jeannie and I took a few walks.  There are two Great Danes who live in my neighborhood and we are very good friends.  Since they're a bit older than me, they're often napping when I walk by their yard.  But, every once in a while, I hear a friendly, slow, deep bark like mine and they come running to their fence line to say hello.  I hope their humans done mind me stomping through their flower beds...I promise I don't do it too often!

Don't I look an awful lot like the black Dane?  Maybe I'm a bit closer to 90% Dane after all...

A walk through the Japanese Tea Gardens and a bit beyond

Stairs -- you know, the kind you walk up and down?  Most of you probably don't give stairs a second thought, but I LOVE them. Wide, or narrow.  Curved, or straight.  I just can't get enough.  Whenever I discover a new set of stairs, I absolutely lose my mind.  I just have to find out where those stairs go! Here are some of the things I think are at the top of every set of stairs:  a squirrel, a kitty, a new person, some dog food, or something new to sniff and crunch with my teeth.  When you think of stairs the way I think of stairs, you have to admit -- they are really something!

I haven't always been this interested in stairs.  Before I met my humans, Ben and Jeannie, I had never even seen a single stair, much less a whole set!  The night they brought me home, I took one look at those stairs, dug my heels deep in the floor and let out a terrible "Whaaaaaaa??" Or, was it more of a "ssssaaaaaaa!!!"  Either way, it took Ben the better part of an hour to coax me all the way up three sets of stairs.  They didn't know anything about dogs then, so they had no idea what would happen when they tried to take me back down.  As you may have guessed, I freaked!  These stairs that went so high into the sky on the way up, seemed also to go so far into the ground on the way back down.

Jeannie has always been afraid of dogs -- she still is even though I'm pretty much the greatest dog she's ever met.  I think she's nuts, personally.  I try to explain that dogs are the best thing in the world, but she thinks the best things in the world are chocolate and summertime.  Because she's so afraid of dogs, she wanted to get a dog whose personality was very trustworthy with all kinds of situations and people. Before she picked me, I had to pass some pretty weird tests:  1) the kitty test (I passed when I tried to run from an angry baby kitty - so embarrassing); 2) the hug test (Jeannie was too scared, so Ben conducted this test) and 3) the scariest test for Jeannie -- the hands in my food test.  Even though I went through all those tests and passed with flying colors, she was still a little nervous that I had a dark side. (Me?! Oh, come on!)

So, that first night, when I got so afraid of the stairs that went into the ground, Jeannie got scared of me!  She actually thought I might bite her -- which is ridiculous!  I would never bite a person -- I love people! Finally, Ben told her that I couldn't just stay inside the apartment for the rest of my life, so this stair thing had to be addressed.  He scooped up the front part of my body and set my front legs on the first step.  Then, with a lot of encouragement, I was able to go down into the ground and all the way out the front door.

I've come a very long way since that night and I'm quite the stair aficionado these days.  Guess where there are lots and lots of stairs in San Antonio.  At the Japanese Tea Gardens!

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Jeannie surprised me with a trip there for the first time last weekend.  It was too hot to stay very long, so we went back for a second time this afternoon.This place is amazing!  Tons of stairs go up, down and all around!  I could play on those stairs for hours -- or at least until I sensed that a kitty might be nearby...

Get a load of this place -- isn't it the perfect place for a stair-loving doggy?

The best stairs in town!

After I got a good dose of the stair action, I was ready to travel into Brackenridge Park proper.

What a thrill!  When we got there, we saw these gigantic water birds.  I couldn't believe my eyes!

We couldn't stay out and about for too long -- Ben's daddy is coming in for a visit tonight, so they have to finish preparing before his flight arrives. I was a good sport about leaving and didn't give Jeannie too much grief when she asked me to hop in the Subaru.  But, it was pretty obvious that I wasn't quite ready to go...

Being strong for Jeannie's sake...

Wait a second, Jeannie -- maybe I'm not so ready to go after all...

You definitely owe me one...

Thanks for reading about my trip to the best stair collection in San Antonio!  I can't wait to tell you guys about my next adventure! :)