In Between a Forest and a City

Hi guys,

This may be a tall order but does anyone have any suggestions on locations that's accessible to both a forest and a city?

The reason being is that I'm in my early 20s and have been wanting to live closer to a city, but my main priority is my 9 year old puppy. She's my one and only, and it's apparent that she prefers suburban atmospheres a lot more than the city.

I currently live in Massachusetts and my dog loves the weather here: she's a smaller dog but her breed is built for the cold weather, especially the snow, and she loves that we live somewhere so wooded (practically in a forest!).

I commute to Boston for work and have to drive a long bit of the way there. I definitely don't think I can see myself living in Boston with my dog as it'd be too big of a shift for her, but I'm wondering if there's somewhere that would be a happy medium: someplace where the windows outside my apartment/condo might show a nice forest, but isn't too far away from a city (due to career prospects & the fact that there are so many social amenities that I'd love to have access to), in a place that runs a little colder and snows.

I'm not too interested in living in MA anymore as I've lived here my whole life, but I do love lots of things about it, especially how it's left-leaning, how Boston is pretty walkable and is a city that's most reminiscent of the UK. I feel like a lot of my wants could be found in some of the EU cities but I'm wondering if there's somewhere that's like this in the US (maybe even Canada?) as well. I recently went on a work trip to Washington this fall and although I liked Bellevue and Issaquah, Seattle felt a bit unsafe for what I'd like. I've come to a bit of a dead end in terms of where else to consider...so I'm sorry for being so picky!!!

Thanks!