Heading out on the waggin' trails

Wellesley native Jenna Ringelheim, author of a guide to places around Greater Boston where dogs can romp off leash, hikes with her Portuguese water dogs, Tasman and Millie.

To leash or not to leash? Toss this thorny question out to dog owners and environmentalists and some will get as testy as bulldogs guarding their turf. While a faction of dog owners see no reason why their pooches should not roam free, their opponents point out the risk to wildlife. But author Jenna Ringelheim, a conservationist by profession and a dog lover by nature, has found a middle path, and plenty of great off-leash dog hikes in the area as well.

Her new book, "Best Hikes with Dogs: Boston & Beyond," highlights numerous leash-free opportunities for Greater Boston dogs, but only in sanctioned areas and always with thorough precautions on how to be sure your canine is what the 28-year-old Wellesley native calls "a good citizen."

Ringelheim lives in Sun Valley, Idaho, where she is the executive director of a nonprofit environmental organization, Wild Gift. This month she is back in the area speaking about her book at REI stores and bookshops, including a stop at 1 p.m. Saturday at REI's Framingham location.

"People have strong feelings about dogs in natural areas. So one of the things that I explain in the book is that you have to be responsible," said Ringelheim. "The entire first chapter explains how to have a responsible dog on the trail."

Up-to-date immunizations, proper training, gradual exposure to the sights and sounds of the woods, having a leash in reserve, and the all-important doggy-waste disposal bag are among the tips Ringelheim covers succinctly.

"It's all about making the right decisions," said Ringelheim, who spent a year researching dog behavior as well as area trails after completing her master's degree in urban and environmental policy at Tufts University.

"There are a lot of wonderful places in Massachusetts where I personally love to hike, but I can't take my dog there because there's wildlife, or lots of families," she said. "And in the city, you assume you can only go to certain dog parks. But the more I got into this, the more I discovered there are real jewels very close to the city limits."

Among those finds are a number of trails west of Boston, including routes in Wellesley's Centennial Reservation, the Elm Bank Reservation in Natick, the Noanet Woodlands in Dover, Medfield's Rocky Woods, and Callahan State Park in Framingham. Finding off-leash hikes was a clear priority for Ringelheim, who strongly believes dogs need opportunities to run free.

"Dogs these days often find themselves pent up inside all day waiting for their owners to get home, so having a place where your dog can actually get out and be a dog is important," said Ringelheim. "But when dogs are on a leash, they pick up a lot of their owner's fears. Often, you'll see fights between dogs on leashes because they have a higher level of anxiety than when they are off leash. . . . Off-leash, in the woods, they relax. After all, that's where they used to live."

Despite the many fun destinations she discovered, such as the dedicated dog beach at the Fresh Pond Reservation in Cambridge, Ringelheim wandered through the early phase of her trail research with a heavy heart. Her publisher, the Mountaineers Books of Seattle, couldn't have given her the go-ahead at a more difficult time.

"I heard back from them the day that my dog passed away," she said. "I was hiking with him. He had cancer, and he had a major heart attack basically in the middle of the woods. I had to carry him out . . . and when I got home there was the e-mail from the Mountaineers saying they wanted to talk to me."

Ringelheim was heartbroken. Cobi, her Portuguese water dog, was more than a pet. He was family. When Ringelheim was 13, not long after her father had passed away, she went to extraordinary lengths to convince her mother she could take care of a dog. She walked the neighbor's German shepherd mix, she researched canine care, found an allergen-free breed, persuaded her brother and sister to join the cause, and finally placed their pooled allowances on her mother's pillow with a letter pleading for a pet and a promise to cover all the expenses. Persuaded by her daughter's determination, Ringelheim's mother gave in.

"After that, Cobi became my partner in crime," Ringelheim said. "I got special permission in high school to go home during the day and walk him. When I went to college, he came with me. When I went to grad school, he came with me. We drove across country twice together. Anywhere we could hike together, he came. It was a real love affair."

So it was in Cobi's honor that Ringelheim went ahead with the book, one in a series of "Best Hikes" published by the Mountaineers. With the help of her new Portuguese water dog pups, Tasman and Millie, she hit the trails, often returning to routes she'd taken as a kid near Wellesley. There to help her sniff out the best paths were many four-legged friends from the area, such as Chessy, the German shepherd mix that Ringelheim had walked for Wellesley neighbor Joan Gaughan, as well as Gaughan's eager black Lab, Razzy.

"I'm so proud of her," said Gaughan, who joined Ringelheim on a number of the book's hikes. "She wrote this book because it was needed. I'm all for off-leash dogs, and people need to know where they can take their dogs."

Ringelheim was just as eager to emphasize thoughtful dog care as she was leash-free outings. Recommended hikes note issues to be aware of, such as hunting seasons, dog drinking-water sources, paw-friendliness, and suitability of the terrain for each dog.

"We have weekend warriors that work all week and then play hard on weekends, and their dogs may not appreciate that," said Ringelheim. "Like people, they need to get in shape first before they take that 10-mile hike on Saturday, especially because dogs are really eager to please their owners. They'll just keep going until they die. That's partly why heatstroke is so common for dogs on the trail."

Jenna Ringelheim will read from "Best Hikes with Dogs: Boston and Beyond" at 1 p.m. Saturday at REI Framingham, 375 Cochituate Road (Route 30), 508-270-6325; 7 p.m. Tuesday at REI Boston, 401 Park Drive, 617-236-0746; 7 p.m. Wednesday at REI Hingham, 98 Derby St., 781-740-9430; and 7 p.m. next Thursday at REI Reading, 279 Salem St., 781-944-5103. Also, a hike and book-signing is 10 a.m. Sunday at the Weir Hill Reservation in North Andover, and a dogs-invited slide show and hike is 4 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Globe Corner Bookstore, Harvard Square, Cambridge, 617-497-6277. More details at mountaineersbooks.org.

THEY GO TOGETHER : Summer isn't summer until Sandy, Danny, Rizzo, and the rest of the "Grease" gang create a little "Greased Lightning" on stage. This weekend Hopkinton's Enter Stage Left Theater will present the classic musical with a cast of 34 area college and high school students backed by a youth-run crew and orchestra at Hopedale High.

"The music is just so contagious and fun, but it's also just so poignant. Some of those moments about being 16 or 17 and looking at reality really hit home, especially when they're played by youths who are that age," said theater company cofounder Kelly Grill. "And you've just got to see the hand-jive dance scene. There's some really great dancing in this show."

"Grease" will be performed 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Hopedale High School, 25 Adin St. Tickets $16; seniors, students $12. 508-435-2114, enterstagelefttheater.com.

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