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Neiko the dog got his day in court this week.

No, Dianne Faxon's Husky wasn't in the third-floor Lancaster County district courtroom for trial Thursday.

But Neiko was at the heart of the case filed by the Lincoln woman, who is appealing the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department Animal Control Division's declaration that he is a dangerous dog stemming from an incident March 9.

In court records, Faxon said she was walking Neiko on his leash on the sidewalk in a neighborhood northeast of 48th Street and Nebraska 2 when a small dog, which was not on a leash, ran into their path.

It surprised and startled both of them, she said, and Neiko bit the other dog, which later died as a result.

Judy Halstead, director of Animal Control, later upheld a determination that Neiko is a dangerous dog because he killed a domestic animal "without provocation," one of four reasons that warrant a dog be deemed dangerous, according to city code.

Faxon fought it.

"Labeling Neiko a dangerous dog and restricting him in his own backyard is not fair or right," she told District Judge Steven Burns on Thursday.