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."

csmart@sltrib.com