Bob Berube, the man who has twice shot dogs with pepper spray, says the picture of him used in a 'Warning' flier might have been taken at City Park on Independence Day.
Posted on 07/27/2008 3:16:23 AM PDT by Daffynition
Bob Berube may be the fastest draw in Park City.
If you're a dog owner, you might see him as a pepper-spray-slinging villain.
But if walking with mutts doesn't melt your butter and you just like to amble along the town's paths and trails, maybe he's your Clint Eastwood.
In the past several months, Berube has pepper-sprayed two off-leash dogs and has raised the hackles of dog owners. So much so, that someone has taken to putting up posters around town with Berube's picture and phone number.
"Warning," its banner headline screams, "This man has been known to pepper-spray off-leash dogs."
Since the posters have gone up, Berube is feeling a bit threatened.
"Now my picture is out there, and it's scary to walk the trails, wondering if I might be targeted."
So far, he has received only one phone call; the caller used obscenities, Berube said.
"It's a gross invasion of privacy. I would like to know how they got my [unlisted] phone number."
The most recent pepper-spray incident occurred when he was walking with his girlfriend on one of Park City's most traveled paths near City Park. He said a canine aggressively approached.
"The dog came running at my girlfriend and was within 6 inches of her when I sprayed it."
The owner of the dog, named in a Park City police report, could not be reached for comment.
Summit County and Park City ordinances require dogs be on leashes. But Carol Potter, the director of the Mountain Trails Foundation, says Parkites often ignore the leash law.
"It's an ongoing thing in Park City," she said. "Mountain Trails doesn't have an official position. But I don't buy that 'my dog is under voice command' routine."
Potter has torn down the "warning" posters along the trail. But since the pepper-spray incidents, she has noticed more dog owners using leashes.
Complaints about dogs off leash are common in Park City, said Summit County Animal Control Officer Shellie Keetch.
A first complaint will get an owner a verbal warning. The second brings a citation with a $25 fine. Fines increase in $25 increments with each citation up to $75.
There has always been friction between dog owners and folks without hounds, explained Mayor Dana Williams.
"The idea that you can go to work and leave your dog on the porch, free to run around town - those days are over."
Dog owners must heed the leash law, Williams said. In the past year, two incidents have led to people seeking medical care for dog bites.
Nonetheless, the mayor said he is a bit surprised by Berube's quick-draw act.
"It's legal for him to do it if he feels an imminent threat," Williams said. "But I'm concerned about his definition of imminent threat, and I'm concerned about his notion of vigilante justice."
Bob Berube, the man who has twice shot dogs with pepper spray, says the picture of him used in a 'Warning' flier might have been taken at City Park on Independence Day.
Summit County and Park City ordinances require dogs be on leashes.
...
"It's legal for him to do it if he feels an imminent threat," Williams said. "But I'm concerned about his definition of imminent threat, and I'm concerned about his notion of vigilante justice."
An off leash dog is charging. I would initially take that as an imminent threat.
Apparently Mayor Williams doesn’t think much of the leash law. A man watching out for himself and his girlfriend uses pepper spray - and the mayor calls him a “vigilante”?
Depends on if its a charge or rushing over to be petted. In both cases the dog is running at you but the intent is far different. Their body language is also far different.
I too, had an unpleasant experience with a large shepherd, and was bitten badly. I know how you feel.
We have a pointer who is a people lover. Unfortunately, he gets excited and jumps all over everyone he greets, first timers as well as old acquaintances. We’ve been trying for three years now to break him of this habit, to no avail.
My elderly father, who has alzheimers, accidentally left a gate open while working in the garden. The pointer escaped and ran up the street.
Our neighbor, a rather small woman, was out walking her little dog and became an affection target. She claimed she was attacked. The vet bill cost us about $150 dollars as the little dog valliantly tried to protect his mistress and got stomped.
Is our dog vicious? No. But he is overly enthusiastic and looks like a slobbering attack animal totally out of control as he tries to lick people’s faces. So we keep him locked in our backyard. Escapes now number one, and we want to keep it that way!
Owning a pet entails owning the responsibility that goes along with it. Maybe the owners should be the ones getting pepper sprayed.
RDO Ping
I, too, am very cautious about dogs.
I know of three incidents:
1) A woman was having dinner at a friends home. While she was eating she reach down to pick up her napkin and her friends dog who was under the table bit her on the face.
2) A two year of our next door neighbor old was bitten in the face by a dog of a family friend. The child was well supervised, and there were many people in the room and the child did not provoke the dog. She was likely a little bit too close, and possibly one of her movements frightened the dog.
3) Another neighbor’s 5 year old was bitten on the leg when playing in a another neighbor’s yard.
Depends on if its a charge or rushing over to be petted. In both cases the dog is running at you but the intent is far different. Their body language is also far different.
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I don’t speak doggie-language, and both actions scare me.
Put the dog on a good strong leash.
I’ll agree that uncontrolled dogs can be bothersome. However if you can’t tell the difference between a wagging tail and a snarl then you definitely need to stay away from dogs.
BTW a leash does not mean the dog is under control. I’ve seen leashed dogs cause problems.
He is right. Those who put up the poster are out of their minds.
Dogs who chase my bike are especially unexpected and scary!
The pepper spray idea sounds great to me. Maybe if these dogs were sprayed regularly they would quickly learn not to chase bikes.
Ditto for dogs in the park. If they got whacked in the face with pepper spray, they would soon learn to stay by their masters and not approach stranger with tail wagging or not wagging.
If the dog is close enough to get sprayed, it is on the attack.
“If the dog is close enough to get sprayed, it is on the attack.”
Nonsense
ooops ....Presumed on the attack
......Owning a pet .....
For some, they have a pet in the same manner they have a child and it is automatically excused from all wrong. All the motherly protective instincts are applied to the pet rather than a real child.
A happy friendly dog that is romping up to say HI! and maybe make olfactory acquaintance with your teabag announces his friendly attentions with every bone in his cheerful doggie body.
An angry or dangerous dog displays hostile intent just as strongly.
There is absolutely no way anyone who is even slightly familiar with dogs could fail to tell the two apart, although someone who doesn't like dogs might claim otherwise. This guy may have felt threatened and the dog may have been acting aggressive -- but if I had to bet, I'd bet the other way.
I've seen it at sheep trials etc., so I know it's POSSIBLE, but I've never known anyone who actually DID it. I've known lots of people who brag that their dogs obey, but my observation is that it's only about 70% of the time. Then the owners make some excuse for why the dog didn't obey THIS time, but he does every single other time. Sure he does. Granted 70% is a lot more than cats give (1% on a good day), but it's not 100%.
My dad absolutely could not tell the difference if a dog came running up to him. If the dog sauntered up casually, he would know there was no hostile intent, but not at a full run.
I completely agree with you!
I would guess that these 2 dogs were not behaving aggressively.
But...Maybe the pepper spray man was trying to train the **owners**! :-)
Personally, strange dogs make me nervous, and I much prefer for them to be on a leash, and hopefully under control.
I think you nailed it. Great post!
Any big dog running pellmell towards me is threatening.
No matter how nice he is.
Sorry.
There’s just no way I can know if he’s friendly or not, and I’m not taking a chance on getting bit.
You are absolutely right! I keep my dogs in my fenced in back yard and at night in a large fenced in area at the back of the yard. But an incident happened about a year ago. The gas meter reader came in the yard, thinking the dogs were in the kennel. We had forgotten and let them out of the kennel that morning. They went after the meter reader and had him trapped in a corner. He pepper sprayed the biggest one. The dog had turned when he saw the spray can so the guy missed but I don’t blame him one bit, even though it was my own dog. The guy had every right to protect himself. I am terrified of dogs off a leash. I have been threatened many times by stray dogs.
Would that be a German Shorthair Pointer? That sounds like them. They are the most loveable and goofy dogs, and very big. It hurts to get stepped on by one of those big clumsy feet. LOL
“Warning,” its banner headline screams, “This man has been known to pepper-spray off-leash dogs.”
Since the posters have gone up, Berube is feeling a bit threatened.
“Now my picture is out there, and it’s scary to walk the trails, wondering if I might be targeted.”
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This man is a dumbass! he need not pepper spray a dog merely because it is off it’s lease. The dog may have broken it’s chains as my dog often does and the owner is out franticly searching for the dog as I often am. Only do that if the dog is actually attacking you at the time.
Any off leash dog that tries to do that to me will have to function with a crushed skull.
What if this is all a ploy, and the pepperspray guy is the one who put up the posters himself. Stranger stuff has happened in this WarholWorld in which we live.
Perhaps you need to get a bigger chain.
Can’t totally blame the guy.
As I have a cousin whose face got re-arranged thanks to an off-leash
dog when she was maybe five years old.
And I didn’t like meeting yuppies walking off-leash pit bulls.
On the UCLA campus, believe it or not.
What I understand is a dog isn’t trained until it obeys commands every time, not just “some of the time”. No exceptions. Leashes and by extension leash-laws are not an improvement or a substitute for this maxim, btw.
You're right about the leash. I've seen many people just pulled along by their beasts. They have absolutely no control.
This guy is an idiot on many levels. One a truly attacking dog won’t let pepper spary stop him. Two pepper spray may do serious harm to an animal. Three I know plenty of people that will take it away from him and use it on him. Four vinegar and water in a strong solution is a much better method.
I have three malamute dogs. Each one of them is far stronger than me. I have them on leashes but if they decide to go one way I cannot stop them. This breed is known to pull in excess of 2,000 punds. They are leash trained so they don’t pull but.....
Thanks for letting me know that pepper spray is useless. If I ever start running, I’ll carry a gun instead.
How many dog owners do you know whose dogs fit this description? I don't know ANY. Really. Not even one, and I know a lot of dog owners. All their dogs are nice friendly semi-obedient companions, and that's all they expect of them. And as long as those dogs (the ones big enough to do damage, not the little mop dogs) never go off the property off-leash, I'm fine with that.
“So people should learn the body language of animals who are running loose, illegally?”
The animals aren’t running loose illegally. The owners are failing to keep them leashed which is against the LAW. So its the owners breaking the law and not the animal.
And yes, its generally wise to be able to analyze the environment around you and identify risks. There are lots of dogs in the world and it would take a lot of pepper spray to teach them all a “lesson”.
The speed of a dogs advance has little to do with its level of aggression. Look for a snarl, raised hair, head low, or tail down.
“Dogs who chase my bike are especially unexpected and scary!”
Dogs chasing bikes are generally showing aggression which is an appropriate situation for pepper spray.
Seems many people here don’t want to take responsibility for themselves. Ohhh theres a loose dog lets spray it or poison it. It could be dangerous after all! Do it for the children!
Loose dogs are a problem. How many people here have tried talking to the dogs owner before killing a dog?
“People should not have to “stay away from dogs”. Owners should keep their dogs away from other people who may not want their “attention”.”
Yep its called manners. However things do happen, sometimes its the dogs fault, sometimes the owners, and sometimes the other person.
I know people that go to dog parks and complain about all the dogs.
Take responsibility for yourself and be kind to your neighbor, whether its your dog or theirs.
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