Is Your Dog Having Fun at the Dog Park?

We are teaming up with Magical Mutt and the City of Somerville to offer a FREE workshop about dog play on Monday evening, May 21, in the second-floor community room at the Super Stop & Shop on McGrath Highway, from 7 pm to 9 pm.

Members of the community are invited to watch and discuss videos of dogs with Liz Shaw, CPDT-KA, owner of Magical Mutt. Liz will help us better understand canine social behavior and learn to distinguish between healthy play among dogs and interactions between dogs who may not be having such a good time.

Please make other arrangements for your canine companions: dogs are not allowed in Stop & Shop!

Wanted: Mixed Breed Dogs

Do you have the cutest mixed-breed dog in Somerville? Were the sire and dam of your mixed-breed dog an odd couple? Do you look like your mixed-breed dog?

Enter your dog to win a prize in one of these categories in the SomerMutt showcase at SomerFUN: a Romp for Independents, in Union Square, Saturday afternoon, June 11 from 3:00 to 7:00. It's going to be a lot of fun!

SomerFUN, presented by the Somerville Arts Council and Somerville Local First, is an annual street festival celebrating locally-owned and independent businesses, non-profits, artists and our community. In addition to som|dog RiverDog and Canis Major Herbals are participating. Don't miss the SomerMutt Showcase and Guess-the-Breed contest! In the SomerMutt Showcase (from 4:25 to 5:10) local mutts will strut their stuff across the main stage; Prizes will be awarded to the cutest dogs, the weirdest breed combination, and the dog/owner couple that looks the most alike. Sign up YOUR dog here! Attendees will be able to enter a competition as a spectator to "guess the breed". The most right answers will win a prize from SLF.

The Dogs'-Eye View of the Memorial Day Parade

The Somerville Dog Owners Group thanks all the wonderful people and their great dogs who helped us honor our veterans and remember the servicemen and women that we have lost by walking with us and cheering us on in the 2011 Memorial Day Parade.

Special thanks to Hagrid (bichon frise), Cody (puggle), and Isis (maltese), our canine videographers, and to RiverDog, 321 Somerville Avenue, for use of the pet video equipment. Check out the great video the dogs shot of us walking in the Parade:

If your dog wants to make movies like this, get her (or him) an Eyenimal Video Camera for Pets from RiverDog!

Every year the Somerville Dog Owners Group makes a donation of $5 for every person who walks in the Parade with us to support the Memorial Day Parade. On behalf of the sixteen dogs and thirty-three people who love them who walked with us (and thanks to everyone contributed toward our donation), the Somerville Dog Owners Group is pleased to make a donation of $165 to the City of Somerville Parade and Memorial Restoration Fund. If you would like to make a donation in support of our parade and our memorials, you may send a check, payable to he City of Somerville Parade and Memorial Restoration Fund, to C.S.P.F Parade Committee, c/o Somerville Veteran's Services Department, 50 Evergreen Avenue, Somerville, MA 02145.

Walk Your Dog with Us in the Memorial Day Parade!

To start the Parade with us, meet us at 1:20 p.m. in the shade at (approx.) 55 Putnam Street.

Let us know if you plan to join us! You can R.S.V.P. on Facebook or send us an e-mail.

We will be in the fourth division with other community groups and marching bands. The parade starts from City Hall on Highland Avenue at 1:00 and each division takes about fifteen minutes to get underway. We should be underway by 1:45, but we need to be in our place in queue on Putnam street when our division begins to move into place on Highland Avenue to begin the Parade.

So, to start the Parade with us, be sure to meet at 1:20 p.m. in the shade at (approx.) 55 Putnam Street.

Leashed and licensed dogs that are up-to-date on their vaccinations and enjoy the company of other dogs are welcome! If you have more than one dog, bring a friend! One dog per person, please!

We also need people who are walking without dogs to help carry our banner and to help pull the waggin' wagon with extra water for the dogs.

On Parade Day we post updates on twitter. We post updates as the divisions ahead of us get underway, as we get underway, and as we cross major intersections along the route.

If you do not want to walk the entire route, you have options: e.g. You can start the Parade with us, then pull out en route; or you can file in with us behind our banner along the route.

The parade route is 2.25 miles. It starts at City Hall on Highland Avenue and proceeds through Davis Square, along Holland Street, through Teele Square and along Broadway to Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Clarendon Hill.

It's a leisurely walk: We pause frequently along the way as the marching bands ahead of us perform songs for the spectators. If your dog knows any tricks this can be a good opportunity for him or her to work the crowd!

Our division has no cannons or guns, so we are not exposed to these noises in the Parade. All the cannons and guns are in the first, second and fifth divisions: You will hear cannons and guns if you are watching the parade go by.

It can be very warm: There's a lot less shade when you're walking in the street than on the sidewalk, and the asphalt of the street is a lot warmer underfoot (and paw) than the concrete sidewalk.

Finally, please remember that there is NO PARKING at City Hall on Parade Day!

There is, however, parking at the end of the Parade route at Dilboy Field on Alewife Brook Parkway. Consider parking your vehicle at Dilboy Field and then taking public transportation back home in the morning before the Parade. (Note: some bus routes are affected by the parade.)

Download printable Memorial Day Parade information.

Off Leash On Trail at the Fells: Middlesex Fells Reservation Resource Management Plan

UPDATE February 3: Materials from the initial public meeting on January 31 are now available, including the DCR's presentation slides and a summary of public comments.

Monday evening, January 31, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) convened the initial public meeting for the Fells Resource Management Plan (RMP) at the McGlynn School Cafeteria in Medford. The dates, locations, and topics of future RMP meetings are at the end of this post.

Approximately one hundred people attended this meeting, including representatives from the Fells Dog Owner Group (FellsDOG), the Somerville Dog Owners Group (som|dog), and the Callahan Dog Owners Association (CalDOG). Also in attendance was State Senator Patricia Jehlen who represents the Second Middlesex district (Medford; Somerville, ward 1, precincts 2 and 3, ward 2, precincts 2 and 3, and wards 3 to 7, inclusive; Woburn, ward 2; and Winchester).

A good third of the people who spoke were in direct support of being able to use the trails of the Middlesex Fells Reservation with off-leash dogs. Dog owners, through FellsDOG, also submitted a petition with signatures of 545 Massachusetts residents in support of legal options for off-leash recreation at the Fells.

Several people also spoke in support of expanding legal options for mountain biking in the Fells.

A common refrain among commenters was, "if it's not broken, don't fix it": Many people feel that their recreational needs are adequately addressed at the Fells and that additional rules and regulations are not needed.

However, others, in particular representatives of the Friends of the Fells, pointed out that currently there are conflicts over use because, they said, of a lack of enforcement of current regulations. One even suggested that the DCR "needs to bring the hammer down”.

The overall tenor of comments by people who enjoy using the Fells every day, however, was that better enforcement of rules that do not accommodate the needs of responsible users will not reduce conflict.

Public comments at the Fells RMP meeting on Monday evening were moderated by professional facilitators from the MA Office for Public Collaboration (MOPC). They did a good job.

The initial comment period extends through March 30, 2011. Comments may be e-mailed to MOPC, MiddlesexFellsRMP - at - umb.edu, or mailed to

Middlesex Fells RMP Comments
c/o MA Office of Public Collaboration
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd., M-1-627
Boston, MA 02125

Dog owners are also encouraged to participate in the public workshops that the DCR is hosting on various issues that will be considered in the RMP for the Fells. The complete schedule of upcoming RMP workshops and additional details are available from the DCR

Wednesday, February 9, 2011, 6:30pm: "Flora and Fauna"
Botume House, 4 Woodland Road, Stoneham

Thursday, February 17, 2011, 6:30pm "Wetlands and Water Resources"
Botume House, 4 Woodland Road, Stoneham

Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 6:30pm: "Cultural Resources"
Location TBA

Wednesday, March 2 , 2011, 6:30pm "Recreation"
McGlynn School Cafeteria, 3002 Mystic Valley Parkway, Medford

Wednesday, March 16 , 2011, 6:30pm: "Education and Interpretation"
Location TBA

Wednesday, March 23 , 2011, 6:30pm: "Enforcement"
Location TBA