Pet dog shoots owner with 9mm pistol

A DOG has accidentally shot its owner in the leg while the two were “horsing around” on a sofa.

Richard Remme was playing with his pit bull-labrador cross, Balew, at his home in Fort Dodge, Iowa, when the incident happened.

In the rough-and-tumble the pet had managed to knock the safety catch on the Ruger 9mm pistol his owner was carrying and then hit the trigger with his paw.

Mr Remme, 51, told The Messenger: “I was lying on the couch, and we were horsing around … I was tossing him off my lap, and he was jumping back on.

“I carry [a gun] under my overalls. Apparently he bumped the safety one time, and when he bounded back over one of his toes went right down into the trigger guard.

“It has a trigger safety as well as a thumb safety, he managed to hit both of them and it discharged and went into my leg. [But it] did no major damage to anything.”

He added that his loyal pet was distressed to learn how he had unwittingly harmed his master.

“The dog’s a big wuss,” said Mr Remme. “The poor dog laid down beside me and cried because he thought he was in trouble for doing something wrong. He’s a pit-lab mix. He’s afraid of the dark and afraid of water.”