Laura Hagan loves her German shepherd, Rolo, and spent half of Monday night in a wind-blown tent in front of the Jefferson County courts building to save him from being killed by the county.

"I am 43 years old. I have no children. My dogs are my children," Hagan said Tuesday morning as she picketed outside the building.

Her signs read, "Free Rolo" and "Give Rolo a Second Chance."

She got a lot of support from fellow dog lovers, including a woman who offered her a free shower and food at her house.

Rolo bit a neighbor about four months ago and was ordered killed by a judge. Since then, he has been in an animal shelter pending an appeal.

Hagan wanted to have children, finally resorting to in-vitro fertilization. After her third and final attempt failed five years ago, her sister gave her 8-week-old Rolo to keep her company.

"When you don't have kids . . . my dogs are my family," said Hagan, who also has a Great Dane and a shepherd-border collie mix.

"German shepherds are very smart and wonderful and sensitive.

"Of course, he's nothing but spoiled. He has his own couch, his own doggie door."

Hagan said Rolo never bit anyone until the day that she left the gate open and Rolo ran a short distance away.

According to her version, she was coaxing Rolo back to her in the front yard when her neighbor, who was carrying a baby, "let out a blood-curdling scream," apparently in reaction to seeing a big dog come close.

Hagan says Rolo got startled and bit the neighbor in the rear end.

Paramedics said the neighbor's pants were torn but that the bite left only scratches and didn't break the skin, according to Hagan's recollection.

Hagan agreed to put up a 6-foot cedar fence next to the 5-foot chain-link fence and to enroll Rolo and herself in dog training.

Two weeks later, the neighbor appeared in court with seven other neighbors, saying she and others feared for their babies because of Rolo.

"The judge ordered Rolo destroyed - and that I had to return in a day and a half with paperwork showing that he is dead," Hagan said.

"It was like telling me to kill my kid and bring in a paper," she said.

She pleaded with the judge to let her give him away, anything but kill him.

"They've done the best they can with him, but he has lost weight," she said. Rolo is doing a little better now that she is allowed to take him outside for walks most days, she said.

The matter is scheduled to be decided by Dec. 11, but Hagan has been told there could be another delay.

Meanwhile, she'll spend hour after hour at the courthouse building, she said. Officials at midnight Monday told her she couldn't camp there, so she switched from the tent to her car. But she vows to make her presence known until the case is decided.

Hagan has set up a Web site, rolodog.com, which warns other dog owners of the consequences of neighbor disputes and dog bites.

If she loses this time, a final appeal could leave Rolo in the shelter for another couple of years, she said.

"I couldn't do that," she said. She couldn't bear Rolo living in a small pen for that long.

If she loses this time, she said, Rolo will be killed.