Goldendoodles on the loose in California

NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — For more than two years, residents around Dry Creek Road in west Napa have reported that a pack of animals has been roaming the winding country roads and neighboring properties.

A pet chicken was killed. At least two dogs were bitten. Walkers have felt threatened. And witnesses reported noise and nuisances.

No, this isn’t the work of a team of coyotes or even a mountain lion.

The perpetrators are fluffy, blond Goldendoodles.

Keep scrolling for a gallery of photos of the Goldendoodles

The Napa County District Attorney’s Office has charged the canines’ owner, Melinda Stewart, with 19 criminal complaints. Those misdemeanor counts include “dogs at large” and “public nuisance” from periods including September 2022 to March 2023. Stewart lives in the 4000 block of Dry Creek Road.

“Animal Control has received several reports of dogs not being contained and roaming” in that area, said Linda Ong, Napa County spokesperson. “There also have been reports of the dogs having aggressive behavior.”

“The calls to report the dogs have been happening for the last two years,” wrote Ong.

Ong could not say the number of times the Napa County animal shelter has impounded Stewart’s dogs.

After a dog has been impounded, the owner pays a fee to retrieve their animals. However, the cost of the citation goes up with the number of times the dog has been impounded, Ong noted. For the first impound, the cost is $65. If it’s the second time a dog has been impounded, the cost is $95.

Stewart referred a request for an interview to her attorney, Justin Wooten. He could not immediately be reached for this story.

However, in past public posts on Nextdoor.com, Stewart defended her dogs and the situation. Her business, which sets up exhibits at trade shows, had closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which left her looking for alternative means of income, she explained.

“I needed to do something else and decid(ed) to follow my heart and breed Goldendoodles,” she wrote on Nextdoor in March 2022.

“I thought (if) I just worked 16 hours a day 7 days a week I could do it, but … after 2 years and more challenges than you’d ever expect,” the business did not pan out as she expected and “I ran out of money too soon,” Stewart recalled.

“Am hoping a loan comes through, or something,” she wrote at that time.

“If I can just quit spending all my time either patching fences, adding fences and chasing after them,” Stewart said, she had plans to install an agility course and hoped to offer training, grooming, lodging, nutrition, agility, friendship and “superb Goldendoodles.”

According to her social media post, at one point, Stewart had as many as 24 dogs or puppies.

Neighbors have voiced their own concerns via social media, including on Nextdoor.

Paul Woodward lives across Dry Creek Road from Stewart. About 760 feet separate their two homes but according to Woodward, Stewart’s Goldendoodles regularly wander about his property and outside his house.

“Her dogs come over to my house and attacked my dogs,” said Woodward, of the Doodles. “They’ve bitten my (German shepherd) dogs twice in the past four months.”

Woodward said he’s seen packs of as many as 13 Doodles running around his house and on the road, at least a dozen times. He also has photos of the dogs bounding around his property.

Yes, he has called animal control, but often by the time an officer arrives at the rural area, the dogs have already moved on, or can’t seem to be captured, he said.

“This woman has no concept of the harm she’s causing,” said Woodward. “She doesn’t seem to be able to handle that they are running all over the place and escaping.”

He’s deeply concerned that the dogs could get killed by a driver or a person might be injured — or worse — in an accident trying to avoid hitting the dogs.

New dogs could be joining the pack. Woodward recalled that on Easter morning a newer, younger-looking group of Goldendoodles visited his house. He described the dogs as “definitely aggressive.”

Because his 45-acre parcel is not fenced, said Woodward, “there’s no way to keep them out of my property.” So far, the canines haven’t caused damage to his property, “just to my dogs’ and my peace of mind.”

The dogs roam around his house at all hours, he said: “You name a time, they’ve been over here.”

“I just had heart surgery and I’m looking forward to some peace and quiet at home. I’ve not had peace and quiet.”

If it were up to him, he would have the dogs removed from the area until a secure fence could be installed. Additionally, “I’d like to have periodic inspections to make sure the animals are being treated fairly.”

Natalie Zwetsloot has lived in the 4300 block of Dry Creek Road her whole life, she said. About a year ago, she noticed the Goldendoodle dogs traveling in groups down Dry Creek Road and even farther, onto Redwood Road.

In early- to mid-April “I came home one day after a walk and I saw one of them in my driveway,” she recalled. Around the back of her home, she found three dogs had killed their family chicken, Penny. 

“They were covered in blood” and eating the dead bird, she said.

“We loved her like a dog,” Zwetsloot said of Penny.

According to Zwetsloot, the Goldendoodle dogs might look happy, “but they’re pretty savage,” she said. “They seem like wild animals, from what I saw.”

Ultimately, “I’m just really concerned about their well-being,” the Napan said. “It’s terrifying already having people driving really fast (on Dry Creek Road). It would be devastating to see these dogs hit and suffering and seeing our own animals becoming prey.”

Zwetsloot doesn’t think Stewart deserves to own multiple dogs. “She’s shown us she’s not fit to care for that many and not take any accountability,” she said.

Carole Meredith’s home is about two miles from Stewart’s and she drives on Dry Creek Road almost daily. Over the past two years, “we probably have seen the dogs on the road 20 or 30 times,” in addition to at her own home.

“They are happy, rambunctious dogs, very spirited,” said Meredith, and “there are just so many of them. We don’t think it’s safe for the animals, or people driving on the roads, to have this large number of dogs just running free.”

“They are cute,” acknowledged Meredith. Yes, the dogs have on occasion woken her at night, for example when nosily slurping from an outdoor fountain near a bedroom window. “They are sometimes really dirty, but that’s to be expected, we’ve had a lot of mud,” and the dogs don’t seem unhealthy.

“Maybe somebody could help her to construct a better structure. If she’s negligent and will not keep the gates closed, maybe she should not keep the dogs. If she’s unwilling to make big changes, I think the dogs should be removed. I want what’s best for the dogs.”

Kaye Hall also lives on Dry Creek Road, a little more than a mile from Stewart.

She’s seen a group of up to nine Goldendoodle dogs in the neighborhood at one point. At least once she’s encountered the dogs while walking with her Belgian sheepdog.

“They are very unfriendly to my dog,” said Hall. The Doodles reportedly nipped at her dog, while barking and being aggressive. She’s worried about future encounters.

“I certainly don’t want to run into them while I’m walking,” said Hall. “I just wish the owner would confine them and keep them confined so we don’t have to run into them ever.”

According to Napa County spokesperson Ong, county residents with more than four dogs need a kennel permit, and their property must have the correct zoning to allow for a kennel. That annual fee is $199. 

Stewart has been informed of the option, but has not applied to operate a kennel, said Ong.

According to court records, a jury trial for Stewart is currently scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on June 12 in Napa County Superior Court. The criminal complaints state that each misdemeanor count is punishable by six months in the county jail.