Prosecutor's Dog to Be Impounded Following Bite Incident

A Vermont Superior Court judge on Thursday said the City of Burlington can impound a Franklin County prosecutor's dog after it bit a man at Leddy Park last week.

Judge Samuel Hoar Jr. also gave Diane Wheeler 14 days to show why the court should grant her appeal of an earlier city order  of an earlier city order that requires her to re-home her 65-pound rescue dog, Moose.

Neighbors say Moose has bitten, charged at and attacked pets and people on their New North End street nearly a dozen times over the last two years. The latest incident, on September 16, happened despite a court order requiring Moose to wear a muzzle and restrictive collar in public.

"The evidence here establishes that no part of that order or those conditions was met here," Hoar said Thursday. "There is sufficient evidence of the dog's dangerous propensity."
Wheeler, a deputy state's attorney, didn't show up for the hearing. She has 14 days to contest the ruling, Hoar said.

Moose's troubles started in early 2023, around the time Wheeler and her  mother, Carol, took him into their Roseade Parkway home. Neighbors say that over a span of six months, the dog bit a pedestrian and two dogs, leaving one of the pups with puncture wounds that had to be treated with antibiotics.

Five households filed a formal complaint with the city in January. That led to a city order telling Diane Wheeler to find Moose a new home within 30 days. In the meantime, the city ruled, the dog needed to remain leashed and in the control of "a capable adult" while in public.
Wheeler appealed the ruling to Vermont Superior Court, where Hoar issued even more stringent conditions while giving her time to prepare a case to keep the dog. Moose was to be leashed, muzzled and wearing a “prong collar” — a device that pinches a dog’s neck if it pulls on its leash — while outside, Hoar wrote.

At the hearing Thursday, assistant Burlington city attorney Hayley McClenahan said the court order was violated when Moose bit CJ Woods at Leddy Park  last week. Woods had been walking his dog, Nova, when he came upon Moose and the elder Wheeler. Moose broke free and went for Nova's neck, biting Woods' hand when he tried to intervene, he told the court.

"It's the worst pain I’ve been in in my entire life," Woods said. "I’ve never been more scared.”

Woods asked for the woman's name and contact information, but she told him to "stop harassing her" and walked away when he continued to ask for help, he said. He took her photo and posted it to social media, where people later helped identify her as Carol Wheeler.
Woods said Moose had been wearing a "fabric collar," a detail Hoar picked up on, asking the witness if it could have been a metal prong caller. "No, sir," Woods said.

McClenahan asked the court to consider dismissing Diane Wheeler's appeal of the city's order, noting that Thursday was the second hearing she had missed since filing her case in April. Before scheduling the hearing, the court made sure Diane Wheeler's own court calendar was clear, Hoar said.

"I know she's busy up in Franklin County with the busy docket up there," he said. "Nevertheless, she has not appeared."

Hoar agreed to give Diane Wheeler 14 days to show why the court should grant her appeal of an earlier city order

Diane Wheeler didn't immediately respond to an interview request from Seven Days. In an interview last week, she defended Moose as a traumatized rescue dog with a "reactive disorder" who was being unfairly demonized. She and her mother have suggested that Woods' own dog bit him instead of Moose.

Correction, September 26, 2024:  An earlier version of this story misstated Judge Samuel Hoar Jr.'s ruling on Diane Wheeler's appeal of a city order that requires her to re-home her dog.