Hound, accused of biting four, banned from Nantucket

Lester

“Unbelievable,” the dog’s owner, Murat Aslansan of Philadelphia, said today when he was informed of his pet’s exile by a Globe reporter. “He’s a real nice dog, real sweet. He’s the only one that gets along with our new kitten. But he’s extremely protective, extremely territorial.”

But others on Nantucket don't recall Lester so fondly. Marsha Fader, whose yard abuts the 80-pound hound’s territory, said her friend was bitten by the dog last summer, drawing blood from her leg.

“Anytime I go into the backyard I need to carry something, like a weapon, to protect myself in my own backyard,” said Fader, 59, who testified at the hearing. “It’s pretty bad, pretty scary, because you don’t know. At any moment this dog could jump out.”

Lester, now in Philadelphia with his owners, is barred from returning to the island. If Aslansan ever brings Lester back, the results could be deadly, according to selectmen.

“My understanding is that the board has the authority to have the dog destroyed,” said the board chairman, Michael Kopko, who owns a 2-year-old golden retriever. “But that’s not the authority I’d ever want to exercise. I love dogs.”

The more likely scenario if Lester returns is that authorities would put him on the next boat off the island, Kopko said.

Aslansan, a summer island resident, insists his dog is not dangerous and has only “nipped at” people twice, including the buttocks of a passerby a few weeks ago. That incident prompted a disgruntled neighbor to file the vicious-dog petition, he said.

“The whole thing got instigated by a guy who lives on the corner,” Aslansan, 39, a property developer, said in a telephone interview. “He’s been upset about the howling ever since we started showing up.”

Aslansan said he had Lester’s voice box removed as a puppy because of his howling, but the vocal cords grew back two years later.

Frances Elder said her son and his wife, Gregory and Carol Elder, collected signatures for the petition after years of problems with the dog.

“Our home is directly in front of the property,” said Frances, 91, who now lives in a home for the elderly nearby. “He goes back and forth, back and forth. The owner has erected some kind of fence around it, but the dog is cooped up and he’s not that kind of dog. He’s ready to go hunt.”

Her family, which includes several children, barely uses its backyard because of the pacing dog, Frances said

“It’s kind of like being held hostage,” said their neighbor, Fader.

Aslansan said an electronic fence borders his yard and usually keeps Lester in, but Fader disagrees. She said it fails to contain Lester, noting that he often accosts a boy who mows her lawn.

“Yeah it growls, but it’s more like it’s in attack mode,” she said.

Gina Lyn Hayes, a 25-year dog trainer on Cape Cod and former K-9 police officer, said Lester’s breed has a tendency to be dangerous if not trained properly.

“Hounds are possessive aggressive – it’s mine, no one else can have it, touch it, look at it,” she said. “It’s certainly not the first one I’ve heard of that’s aggressive.”

But with Lester now banned, neighbors are looking forward to a relaxing summer in 2010.

“It’ll be a relief, that’s all I can say,” Frances said.