Middlesex Fells Reservation with your dog: leashes, tags and water lands

DCR's restrictions for the Fells cover dogs in two lines: dogs must be on a leash unless they are in the designated off-leash area, and four dogs is the maximum per handler. DCR's statewide rules set the leash at no more than ten feet, and the suggested-hikes sheet DCR posts for the Fells repeats the ten-foot limit and adds that pets stay under control at all times. A commercial dog walker with DCR's annual permit may bring up to eight dogs; everyone else stops at four.

DCR's page on dogs at the Fells adds the collar rules. Your dog wears a collar with a current dog license and rabies tags, and choke and prong collars are not allowed. The rest reads like etiquette but carries the weight of a rule: clean up and properly dispose of the waste, no digging, no chasing, harassing or hunting wildlife, and no letting your dog approach other dogs or people, however friendly, unless invited. The hike sheet goes further and asks that waste be disposed of outside the park.

Two of DCR's Fells restrictions are about water. There is no swimming, and there is no trespassing on Town of Winchester water supply lands. DCR's suggested bike routes circle the Winchester reservoirs in the western Fells, so if you walk those loops, watch for posted water supply land, read the signs, keep your dog on the leash along the shore and out of the water, and turn back wherever a path is posted. Spot Pond is used for rented canoes and kayaks, and DCR allows no personal boats on the water.

Drinking water is the other half of the problem. DCR's hike sheet warns that drinking water is usually not available on the trails and that trailside sources should be treated, which goes for dogs as much as people, so carry enough for both of you and a collapsible bowl. DCR's Fells dog page adds that many rodents have been affected by rodenticide, and that a dog that eats a poisoned rat can fall ill or die. If your dog swallows something, call your vet or ASPCA Animal Poison Control at (888) 426-4435, which may charge a fee.

Rocky trails, wet leaves and mud season send dogs home from the Fells dirtier than they arrived. A bath and brush at Dogtown, 210 Eastern Ave in Gloucester, is the warm bath, dry and brush-out without a haircut, from $55 for a dog up to 25 pounds to $85 over 90 pounds, and $95 for an extra-large long coat. Nail clipping adds $16, and dematting runs $15 per 20 minutes for a coat that picked up tangles. Dog grooming skips the evaluation entirely; book it online or in the app.

Stoneham, Medford, Melrose and Winchester all sit outside the Pup Van towns, where the van charges $10 each way in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea, so ask us about pick-up. Grooming can also be booked inside a daycare day, so a dog spends the morning in a playgroup and goes home clean. We do not take dogs to the Middlesex Fells.