A Prosecutor’s Dog Is Biting People and Pets in Burlington

Roseade Parkway is the kind of Burlington neighborhood where traffic moves slowly and kids ride their bikes in the street. But lately, neighbors say, a 65-pound mutt named Moose has been disturbing the peace.

In the two years Moose has lived there, they contend, he’s charged at and bitten people and attacked their dogs, behavior that’s landed his owner, Diane Wheeler, a city order to find the pooch a new home. Wheeler, a deputy state’s attorney in Franklin County, has refused give up Moose, and the matter has been tied up in court for months.

Meantime, the dog has continued to wreak havoc. Last week, Moose broke free of his leash at Leddy Park and bit a man on the hand, that person said, sending him to the emergency room. He’s since contacted an attorney.

Wheeler stridently defends Moose as a traumatized rescue dog. She claims the city’s process is politically charged because Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, the sibling of Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, is one of five neighbors who filed the original complaint about the animal. That report and some of the others, however, were made before the mayor took office in April.

With Wheeler’s heels deeply dug in, there’s no telling when the canine conundrum will be resolved. She has until early November to file court paperwork about the case. Her New North End neighbors, though, are growing impatient and frustrated.

“It feels like this is escalating to another level,” said Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, who lives two doors down from Wheeler. “It's just a matter of time before this dog gets somebody else.”

Officials were first alerted to Moose’s behavior in early 2023, around the time Wheeler and her elderly mother, Carol, adopted him. Over six months, Moose lunged and barked at people nearly a dozen times, often while they were walking their dogs, according to a report neighbors provided to city officials. Moose bit one dog in the face and left another with several puncture wounds on the neck and hip that had to be treated with antibiotics, the report says.
Moose also bit a man last fall, though the incident was never reported to police. David Kirk, who lives on nearby Blondin Circle, told Seven Days that he was walking his two leashed Australian shepherds one November evening when Moose ran at them, latching onto his leg in the scuffle.

The bite drew blood but wasn’t serious enough to warrant medical attention, Kirk said. His shepherds were unscathed.

“I feel bad for the dog because whoever taught the dog didn't teach it well,” he said. “I don’t think it’s the dog’s fault. I think it’s the owner’s.”

Five households filed a formal complaint against the Wheelers with the city’s Animal Control Committee in January. The three-page document says Carol Wheeler, who cares for Moose while her daughter is at work, isn't strong enough to control the dog. The Wheelers have refused to acknowledge “the gravity of the situation,” the report says.

City officials seem to agree. When they served Diane Wheeler with the complaint, she “did not appear to think that Moose being at large was a big deal,” an investigative report says.

At a contentious hearing in March, Diane Wheeler told the Animal Control Committee she can’t muzzle Moose because of his “past trauma” and that his electric collar negated the need for a backyard fence. The committee wasn’t persuaded. The panel issued an order declaring Moose a vicious dog and requiring Diane Wheeler to find him a new home within 30 days. In the meantime, the committee wrote, Moose needed to remain leashed and in control of “a capable adult” while on walks.

In April, Diane Wheeler appealed the ruling to Vermont Superior Court, where a judge issued even more stringent conditions while giving her time to prepare a case to keep the dog. Moose must be leashed, muzzled and wearing a “prong collar” — a device that pinches a dog’s neck when strained — if he goes outside, the judge wrote.

Then, on September 16, New North End resident CJ Woods was walking his dog, Nova, in Leddy Park when he came upon the elder Wheeler and Moose. Woods kept a wide berth, but the dog broke free, closed the distance between them in seconds and went for Nova’s neck. Moose bit Woods’ hand when he tried to intervene, he told Seven Days.

Wrapping his hand in a shirt to stem the bleeding, Woods asked for the woman’s name and contact information so he could check the dog’s vaccination records. She offered him a napkin instead and told him to “stop harassing” her as he continued to ask for help, he said. Woods snapped her photo as she walked away, and later posted it to social media.

Woods was treated at the hospital for 18 puncture wounds and gashes. Online denizens helped identify the woman in the photo as Carol Wheeler, something Woods confirmed with police.

Woods was visibly shaken as he recounted the story to Seven Days two days after the attack. Swollen with infection, his hand felt like it had been crushed in a machine, he said. He can’t prepare food and struggles to use a keyboard, a main function of his job.

The Wheelers have suggested Woods’ own dog bit him. Carol Wheeler told police that Moose had been “in a pooping position and was at his most vulnerable” when Woods and Nova appeared, and that she walked away because she was “concerned about [Woods’] mental state.” Still, she received a $150 ticket for letting the dog “molest a passerby.”

In an interview with Seven Days, Diane Wheeler defended Moose against the allegations levied by Woods and her neighbors, calling them “histrionic” and divorced from reality.

“My dog is not vicious, but he has a reactive disorder, just like people with trauma do,” she said. “Until people understand that and approach him carefully … they've assumed that risk.”
Diane Wheeler’s primary contention is that politics are at play, but she didn’t provide a convincing argument. She inaccurately claimed that Llu Mulvaney-Stanak works in the mayor’s office and that the Animal Control Committee, a subgroup of the Police Commission, is handpicked by the mayor. Llu is a radio station manager, and, while the mayor and city council do appoint police commissioners, the members who heard Diane Wheeler’s case were installed by Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak’s predecessor, Miro Weinberger.

Diane Wheeler says she was muted when she tried to raise these concerns at the city hearing, which was held on Zoom. Seven Days couldn’t verify her claim because the meeting wasn’t recorded. Asked about Diane Wheeler’s allegations, Mayor Mulvaney-Stanak declined to comment.

The situation has so concerned neighbors that they formed a group text chat to discuss Moose. They’re loath to go on the record about Diane Wheeler, both out of a desire to keep the peace and a concern that, as an attorney, she may sue them.

Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, who uses they/them pronouns, was undeterred, saying “it was game on” after Moose charged at their partner and 6-year-old son while the two walked their family dog a year and a half ago. But they’re also frustrated that the city hasn’t enforced its own order, even when Moose got out this summer and ran at a toddler playing in a neighbor’s backyard. Police ticketed Diane Wheeler, but, according to city ordinance, she could have also faced misdemeanor criminal charges and a fine of up to $500 for violating the city’s vicious dog order.

Burlington city attorneys wouldn’t answer questions about the case, citing pending litigation.
After Diane Wheeler appealed the city’s order this spring, she didn’t show up to her hearing, later telling the judge she was tied up at work. She’s gotten two tickets, in December 2023 and this past June, for allowing Moose to run off-leash. She hasn’t paid either fine, which now total nearly $700 with late fees, court records show.

In an interview, Diane Wheeler alleged Burlington police didn’t follow proper protocol when they issued her the most recent ticket. As for the first one, she said it must have gotten lost in the mail during the holiday season. She said she looks forward to fighting the city’s vicious dog order in court, where she has until early November to submit documents for her appeal.

To Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, these denials demonstrate a startling lack of concern. With no further assistance from the city, the neighbors feel helpless and at the whim of the court.

“This dog is out here, literally biting people,” Mulvaney-Stanak said. “Without help, aggressive dogs don’t stop being aggressive. It only gets worse.”