Police should not have fined them over their dog, Quigley, say St. John’s B&B owners

For the better part of six years, Quigley has been sitting at, or near, the end of his driveway on Forest Road in St. John’s. He greeted guests and neighbours in the quiet neighbourhood without a hitch – until Aug. 15, when a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer issued a fine and court summons to the blonde Border Collie-Retriever’s humans because Quigley was not on a leash.

Gery and Lesa Winsor, who live at the residence and operate a bed and breakfast there, say they’re disturbed by the whole ordeal.

Through their 10 years owning Winsor House, Gery has built a refuge from the bed and breakfast in the garage on the property, equipped with a flatscreen TV and furniture. He says he was having a mid-afternoon nap on the couch in his garage when he was awoken and startled by an RNC officer standing over him.

“He said, ‘Sir, is this your dog?’” he recalls.

Officer “972” – as he later identified himself – told Gery that Quigley would have to be tethered. But, having trained Quigley from the time he was a puppy to stay and rest near the end of the driveway, Gery refused to tether the dog. Quigley had never been tethered, he said.

Meanwhile, Gery’s partner, Lesa Winsor, “heard a commotion” outside so headed to the driveway, where Gery’s voice was getting louder. “My adrenaline was boiling,” Gery recalls.

Lesa told her husband to go inside and that she would handle the situation, which she thought had resolved once the officer left.

According to the couple, about 20 minutes later while they and Quigley were processing what happened, the same officer “rolls by again” as if to check on them.

“He rolls down his window and says, ‘You’re not going to tether your dog?’” Gery recalls.

“I’m not tethering my dog,” Lesa responded, she says. “The cop said, ‘Okay, well I am going to pull over and give you a ticket.’

“I said, ‘Well, come on then,’” Lesa replied.

It was around that time Lesa decided to start recording the interaction on her phone. The video would go on to be viewed tens-of-thousands of times on social media while receiving some 400 interactions, she says.

“Well this is an interesting day,” the recording begins, pointing toward the road before panning left toward the RNC vehicle. “The cops of downtown St. John’s have some real crime to fix in this city, but instead they are here giving me a ticket because this little guy [Quigley] is not tethered. He is trained to stay on our property. I guess he’s not allowed to be on this sidewalk even though it is directly in front of our house,” Lesa can be heard saying.

“To say I am upset is an understatement,” she continues in the video. “With all the crime that goes on in this city. They are wasting taxpayer’s money.” In the video, the officer approaches Lesa with the ticket. “Get his badge name,” Gery can be heard saying in the background.

The officer responds quickly, “My badge number is 972.”

“So like I said, we were here earlier,” he continues. “You had your dog on the sidewalk. It wasn’t on a leash. The police gave you a warning to, ‘Please put your dog on a leash.’ You refused to do that, as we came back later and the dog was off leash. So you are getting a ticket,” the cop can be heard saying on the recording.

“He is on our property,” Lesa responds in the video. “No, he was on the sidewalk, here,” the officer says.

“Right, but it’s in front of our driveway,” Lesa replies. “The sidewalk is public property,” the officer says in the video, explaining police were “having a lot of complaints about dogs being off leash.”

“What about the complaints about the drugs, the break-ins, where cops don’t even come?” Lesa says in a frustrated voice.

“Ma’am, we are trying to address that as well,” the officer responds, “but I came by and asked reasonably first that you tether your dog, but you refused to tether your dog.”

Gery says the couple has security cameras all over the property, and have made calls about security footage showing items being stolen from the property, with little satisfaction about police response. “I have the video evidence,” he says.

The couple says they believe the officer was feeling challenged by them because they didn’t immediately comply with his order to tie Quigley up.

Quigley well known in the neighbourhood

The Winsors say when Quigley is not working as their bed and breakfast ambassador, he sits or lays down at the end of their driveway for hours each day. Lesa says if his paws edge a little over the sidewalk, he’s even trained to pull them back on command. But the couple  hasn’t had to worry about the consequences until now. They say Quigley sometimes walks a few extra feet down the sidewalk to find the sun or the shade, depending on the time of day or the mood he is in.

The couple says Quigley is well known in the Forest Road neighbourhood, in which their B&B is one of the more recognizable properties. They say Quigley has greeted tourists from Canada, the US and Europe about 150 days per year for the six years of his life, calmly greeting them when they check-in and later performing tricks for them each morning at breakfast.

He also greets kids as they go to and from school, the Winsors say, adding people who’ve come to know him bring him treats. The couple even installed a plaque with his name and date of birth mounted to one of the driveway pillars of their Edwardian-era B&B. “Hi, I’m Quigley,” it reads. “I live here and I love pets, treats and I’m trained to stay on the property.”

Since the video of the interaction went viral, the Winsors say the reaction has been largely supportive. A garbage truck driver has stopped to say he was sorry about what happened. A bus driver stopped in front of the house with “a bus load of tourists” to say he regretted what happened, says Gery. A neighbour visited to see Quigley and apologize: “‘I have to apologize on behalf of the whole neighbourhood,’” Lesa recalls. Another neighbour who works in communications told them if they need public relations help, she would do it for them and Quigley.

“But there are those who have said, ‘The law is the law,’” Lesa says about some of the comments.

The Independent reached out to the City of St. John’s, but Communications & Public Relations Officer Brandon Mullins said the City “cannot comment on a specific incident between the RNC and a resident,” and referred to St. John’s City By-Laws and Regulations.

A search of Animal Control bylaws shows an extensive list of rules and conditions that must be met for pets and pet owners. Applicable to Quigley’s case appears to be a small section addressing dogs being off their owner’s property. It reads, “When the Dog is off the property of the Owner the Owner shall cause the Dog to wear around the neck a collar to which shall be attached the current license tag issued for that Dog.”

City of St. John’s Manager of Corporate Communications Jackie O’Brien says at the end of April 2026 city council approved an amendment to the Animal Control Regulations, empowering inspectors with Humane Services to issue tickets, “rather than relying solely on formal court charges.”

Hundred-dollar tickets can now be issued “for minor infractions, such as dogs being off-leash on sports fields or trails, which is a complaint we get from residents throughout the year,” O’Brien says. To date, she adds, “no tickets have been issued” under the new regulations.

But the ticket the Winsors received wasn’t from municipal bylaw enforcement. According to RNC Director of Communications Danielle Barron, it was issued by the officer under Section 32.1 of the provincial Animal Health and Protection Act, which states “an owner of a dog shall keep it safely contained at all times.” Barron also cited Section 18.1 of the Provincial Offences Act, explaining “tickets can be disputed before a judge in Provincial Court.”

The Independent asked the RNC how many similar citations have been issued by the force but did not hear back before the time of publication.

The office for provincial MHA Shelaigh O’Leary, whose district the Winsor’s property is located in, says it would like more information on the incident. NDP spokesperson Stephanie Curran said in an email that, “where it is the law, [O’Leary] would rather work with the constituent on next steps before publicly commenting without a dialogue with the constituent.”

Curran added that Quigley is well known to the New Democrats’ office because former federal NDP candidate Mary Shortall’s campaign headquarters were across the street from the Winsor’s B&B. “So we do have sympathy for the situation,” Curran wrote.

The Winsors say over the past six years, whether it was taking Quigley for a walk to a nearby green space, where police vehicles would pull up next to them at a traffic light, or when RNC officers with the mounted unit would walk by on horses and stop to say hello, they’ve never been threatened with a fine before.

“It was overwhelming,” Lesa says of the encounter. “I’ve had numerous people tell me they would come support me if I go to court. If I do go to court, I’m not tying him on.”

Lesa says that since the interaction with the RNC officer, Quigley has seemed “a little more subdued,” as though he understands and is affected by what happened. The Winsors are due in court in mid- September. They think the fine they may have to pay is $65 but are unsure because, they say, “the officer forgot to fill in that section of the summons.”