The Somerville Dog Owners Group thanks all the responsible dog owners who came out to Nunziato Field today to train their dogs to come when called with City Dog Training. More than twenty-five dogs came to the free recall clinic.

It was a beautiful autumn afternoon, and it was great fun to be out in the park with so many other responsible dog owners!

James Halloran, Recreation and Youth Commissioner for the City of Somerville, attended the Recall Clinic with his dog, Coco. The Recreation and Youth Commission co-sponsored the clinic.

Future clinics are planned for for January and March at Powder House Park and at Lincoln Park, respectively.

Marjie Alonso, Phil Burke, Donna Culbert and Melissa McCue from City Dog Training had everyone spread out in a circle around Nunziato Field so we all had room to work without too much distraction.

In canine obedience training the ability to call your dog and get an immediate response at all times is known as "recall." To train the recall, we played the "Get It" game with our dogs.

First we tossed a treat away from us and told our dogs: "Get it!" Then we called our dogs back to us by saying their name and the command, "Come!" We rewarded them with praise and a treat while gently hooking a finger through their collar. In addition to training your dog to come when called, being able to restrain your dog by the collar can save it's life. It's important for your dog to be comfortable with you holding her or his collar.

In order to be able to call our dogs from a distance, we worked with long leads. If our dogs didn't come when called, we were instructed to walk to them, lead them with a treat back to our original location, and reward them with praise and the treat when we got there.

We also worked on the "Stay" command, starting by taking one step back away from our (sitting) dogs and then returning to them and rewarding them with praise and a treat. Ward Four Alderman, Walter Pero (left) asks his dog, Harry, to stay. We were encouraged to do our best impression of Diana Ross: an extended hand creates a visual barrier and really helps communicate to your dog that he is not supposed to follow you.

Somerville's Animal Control Officers, April Terrio and Rachel Taylor, also came to the event. The Somerville Dog Owners Group is pleased to have the opportunity to bring dog owners and Animal Control Officers together in a context that does not involved a lost or injured animal—or a violation of the municipal ordinances! Thank you, April and Rachel, for taking time out of your Sunday afternoon to spend time with us!