Man Shot By His Own Dog

A Pennsylvania man learned the hard way that "man's best friend" doesn't necessarily mean "man's safest roommate."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
There are a million ways to end up at the
hospital car accidents, sports injuries, slipping on ice. But getting
shot by your dog, that's a new one for most
emergency room intake forms. I'm Darren Marler and this is
weird dark news. On November eleventh, twenty twenty five, just
after eleven pm, Shillington Police Department received reports of a

(00:35):
shooting at a residence on a three hundred block of
State Street in Shillington, Pennsylvania. The initial report indicated a
fifty three year old man had suffered a gunshot wound
to his back. The dispatcher's thought process probably went something
like domestic dispute, break in gone wrong, standard Tuesday night violence.
While officers were at a route to the scene, dispatch

(00:56):
relayed an update that probably made everybody do a double take.
A dog had jumped onto the bed and set the
gun off. Somewhere in that police cruiser. An officer probably
turned to their partner and said, I'm sorry, can you
repeat that. When police arrived at the residence, they found
the man on the floor, conscious despite his injury. The victim,

(01:18):
his son, and two dogs were the only ones at
the home. The sun was not in the same room
when the shooting occurred, so the sun wasn't a witness.
The only witnesses two dogs, neither of whom can testify
in court, one of whom is technically the shooter. Good
luck getting a conviction on that one. The victim explained
that he'd been cleaning his shotgun and placed it on

(01:39):
his bed. He then sat down on the bed, at
which time one of his dogs jumped onto the bed,
causing the weapon to fire around into his lower back.
We've all made questionable decisions, texting an X at two am,
eating gas station sushi, trying to assemble ikea furniture without
the instructions, Believing a loaded shotgun on your bed while

(02:00):
you have dogs in the house. That's a whole new level.
Shillington Police Department Captain Michael Schuen noted that the victim
was unsure what stage of the cleaning he was in
at the time. The exact mechanism of discharge remains unclear.
The dog's paw may have gotten caught inside the trigger
and the safety was off, or there could have been
some sort of manufacturer malfunction. Officer, I'm not sure what

(02:24):
stage of cleaning I was in. That's not something you
should have to say, ever, because if you're cleaning your gun,
it should be unloaded. That's kind of a no brainer.
The investigation has to determine whether Fido's paw hit the
trigger or if the gun had a mechanical issue. Either way,
this man's dog has no idea. He's now got a
criminal record. He's probably wondering why dinner's late and where

(02:47):
is human went. After paramedics arrived at the scene, the
man was transported to a local hospital, where he immediately
went into surgery for his injuries. The EMTs probably had
to verify the story three times before they believed it. Sir,
can you confirm one more time? Who shot you? Your dog?
Your dog shot you with a shotgun? Okay, just checking.

(03:10):
Hospital staff informed police on November thirteenth that the man
had undergone an initial surgery but would need an additional
operation either on Wednesday or Thursday. According to police reports,
the fifty three year old man is expected to survive.
Good news, he's going to be fine. Bad news, he's
going to have to explain this story for the rest
of his life. So what happened to you? Hell funny story,

(03:32):
and it will be every single time. The shooting appears
to be accidental, of course, but police are still investigating
the incident. They're treating it seriously because firearms accidents are
serious business, even when they involve dogs with trigger fingers.
The police need to figure out the exact chain of events.
Was the gun loaded during cleaning? If so, why was

(03:53):
the safety on? Did the dogs wait interact with the trigger?
These are all important questions that will hopefully prevent future
incidents of dogs playing with loaded firearms. After this story
hits the news, every gun's safety course in America is
going to have to include a line in their manuals
that says, unload your gun before cleaning it, especially if
you have dogs. When you adopt a dog, you sign

(04:15):
up for certain responsibilities beating walking, vet visits. You don't
typically sign up for them sending you to a trauma award,
But apparently that's in the fine print somewhere. The victim
now has multiple surgeries ahead of him, a lengthy recovery,
and a story that'll define him at every party for decades.
His dog, meanwhile, has no idea anything unusual happened. Dogs

(04:36):
live in the moment. This particular moment just happened. To
involve accidentally pulling a trigger. Police confirmed to ABC News
that the extent of the man's injuries as of November fourteenth,
remain unknown. Recovery you'll take time, physical therapy, probably a
very long conversation with his dog about boundaries the silver lining.
At least he knows his dog didn't do it on purpose.

(04:57):
Dogs are loyal creatures. If your dog's shoots you, it's
definitely an accident. Now if your cat shoots you, well,
you might want to start sleeping with one eye open.
Gun safety rules exist for a reason. Rule one, treat
every gun as if it's loaded. Rule two, never point
a gun at anything you don't want to destroy. Rule three,

(05:18):
don't leave loaded shotguns on beds occupied by animals. With
pause and no concept of trigger discipline, this man will
recover his relationship with his dog. We'll probably recover too,
though dinner time might be a little awkward for a while.
And somewhere in Shillington, Pennsylvania, there is a dog who
is completely oblivious to the chaos he caused, probably wondering

(05:39):
why his human isn't around to throw the ball. If
you'd like to read this story for yourself or share
the article with a friend. You can read it on
the Weird Darkness website. I've flaced a link to it
in the episode description, and you can find more stories
of the paranormal, true crime, strange, and more, including numerous
stories that never make it to the podcast in my
Weird Darknews blog at Weirddarkness dot com, slash news