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If I told you that gun dogs are living up to their names and shooting people, you wouldn’t believe me. But it’s true. Across the world, there are reports of dogs turning the gun on their owners.

Here are just some of the whens and wheres:

1999 Germany

2000 New Zealand

2002 USA

2003 France

2004 USA

2005 Bulgaria

2007 USA

2008 USA

Here are the Stories

1999 Bad UrachGermany (Reuters) – A German dog has shot and killed its owner, police said Wednesday. The 51-year-old man, who had been out hunting with his shotgun, was found dead beside his car near the south-western town of Bad Urach. Police ruled out suicide and foul play and said the gun must have gone off when the dog jumped on top of it on the car seat.

2000 Tokora, North Island, New Zealand Kelly Russell was hunting pigs when he put down his loaded shotgun. His six year old mongrel, Stinky stood on the trigger and blasted Mr Russell in the foot. Unfortunately it was five hours before a passing car spotted his plight and notified emergency services. It is not known whether he lost the foot or not.

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2002 South Dakota USA On October 19th 2002, Michael Murray suffered an identical accident when out hunting on the first day of the hunting season. Like Mr Russell he put his loaded shotgun on the ground and was shot in the foot when Sonny his English setter pup stood on the trigger.

2003 Espelette, France

An unnamed Frenchman from the village of Espelette, in the Basque region was in his car on a hunting trip with his two gun dogs. Unfortunately he had left his loaded shotgun in the rear of the car with his dogs, and the gun discharged while he was driving.

He was admitted to hospital in the nearby town of Bayonne with a gunshot wound with lead pellets injuries to the hip.

2004 Florida USA

It was reported by Escambia County deputies that a man who was trying to kill seven puppies with a .38 calibre pistol, was in turn shot by one of his own dogs.

He was apparently holding two of the shepherd mix puppies when one of them got its paw on the trigger, and shot 37 year old Jerry Bradford in the wrist, needing him to receive hospital treatment.

Three of the puppies were found in a shallow grave at his home: the other four were taken by animal control to be offered for adoption.

The sheriff’s office charged Bradford with animal cruelty.

2005 Bulgaria

A Bulgarian hunter got more than he bargained for when he began beating his Deutsch-Drahthaar hunting dog with his rifle.

The dog had refused to release the killed bird and in the ensuing tussle the dogs paw had caught the trigger, blasting the man.

Apparently the local media did not report the extent of the man’s injuries, but said that the dog had injured a paw.

2007 Tennessee USA

King George and owner

According to a Fox news report, King George, a twenty two month old Great Dane shot its owner in the back with a .22 pistol.

The incident occurred when the dog’s tail knocked the gun off a table causing it to fire.

The victim’s fiancée Miesha Lucas said “I knew he was smart but I didn’t think he was that smart.”

The unnamed man was taken to hospital in a critical condition.

Lucas said that she does not know how her 21-year-old fiancée will react to King George when he was out of hospital, but she says she cannot blame the dog. “That’s my baby,” she said. “I feel for my dog. Now people are really going to notice him.”

2007 Iowa, USA

While out hunting for pheasants with a pack of dogs, James Harris put his loaded gun on the ground to retrieve a fallen pheasant. One of the pack of hunting dogs stepped on the trigger firing the gun into Mr Harris’s left calf. At only three feet (90 cm) away, this put 120 pellets into a four inch (10 cm) area of his leg. Alan Foster, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, told the AFP news agency the injury was “not life-threatening, but will give him trouble for a long time.

He had surgery and is doing pretty well,”

2008 Texas USA

Perry Alvin Price III had been on a goose hunt in south east Texas. A tracking dog apparently stepped on a loaded shotgun in his owner’s pickup truck, which fired a fatal blast into the man’s thigh, officials have said.

According to reports Price was hunting geese near Stowell about 60 miles east of Houston, when he shot down the bird. He placed his gun in the back of the truck to open the tailgate to release his retriever dog, and it is believed in the dog’s excitement, to get the bird, it stood on the gun. The shot penetrated the tailgate before hitting Price in the leg.

He died shortly afterwards, in hospital from severe blood loss.

Paw prints of Arthur, a Labrador retriever, were found on the gun.

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