Igor, the 130-pound male bull mastiff who caused the death of a small white terrier in a Middleton dog park Aug. 12, remains at the Dane County Humane Society while the Dane County Court system decides his fate.

Gary Lohrke, 7021 Hubbard Ave., who owns Igor, filed documents with Circuit Judge Juan Colas this week asking that his dog be rehabilitated, not euthanized as the city of Middleton wants.

After an incident on March 8, 2007, Lohrke signed an agreement with Middleton police to leash and muzzle Igor when the dog was not at home, but he took Igor unleashed to the Middleton dog park, where Igor mauled and caused the death of the 13-pound Bedlington Terrier named Lily.

Lohrke told the court that he suffers from mental illness and did not understand orders from the city of Middleton that the dog be leashed and muzzled when away from home. He had argued last month that he thought the dog park was not within Middleton city limits.

"Due to the defendant's psychological limitations, defendant should have been provided with reasonable accommodations to assist him in learning the specifics of what the city of Middleton expected of him," wrote Frank Medina, Lohrke's lawyer.

In the complaint, the city of Middleton cited two other instances in which Igor attacked a person or another dog:

• On March 8, 2007, an attack on a dog owned by Sandra Geisen while she walked her dog on-leash on a public sidewalk;

• On Aug. 13, 2006, an attack on Michelle Ouellette, who was walking on a public sidewalk on Hubbard Avenue.

The Middleton City Council voted last month to recommend that Igor be euthanized, but a court order is needed to carry that out. Matthew Fleming, attorney for the city of Middleton, said a hearing in the case will be scheduled in the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, the Dane County Humane Society is housing the mastiff at a cost of $15 a day, officials said.