Dog shoots owner in terrible accident as police release shocking details

A man was left needing surgery after his dog accidentally shot him.

Police were called to a property in Shillington, Pennsylvania, around 11pm on November 11 and arrived at the scene to find that a 53-year-old man had a gunshot wound to his back.

When asked how he was shot, the man (who has not been named) said he believed that he'd been accidentally shot by his dog.

Giving more context to the situation, Cpl. Michael Schoone with Shillington Police Department told WFMZ: "While they were responding they were informed that a dog had jumped up onto the bed, causing the shotgun to go off, which ultimately struck the male."

He went on: "He's not sure what stage of cleaning he was in at the time, so it's unsure if the dog's paw may have gotten caught inside the trigger and the safety was off, or if there was some sort of manufacturer malfunction. That's unknown at this time."

Police arrived at the scene to find a man had been shot (6abc Philadelphia)

The dog owner was struck in the lower back and transported to Reading Hospital for treatment and had to undergo surgery for his injuries.

While the severity of his injuries weren't disclosed it's expected that the man would survive the incident.

Schoone described the ordeal as the 'perfect storm'.

"Obviously, you should be treating every weapon as if it's loaded," he said. "You know, all the cardinal rules: keeping it in a safe direction, finger off the trigger... This was, like you said, it's the perfect storm. You know it was just the right place at the right time, or the wrong time."

While this dog almost killed its owner, sometimes our four-legged friends can actually be life-savers.

One man who learnt this the hard way was David Lindsay, when his dog chewed his toe down to the bone.

A bulldog saved its owner's life after chewing his foot (Getty Stock)

Dave was asleep at the time and he didn't feel a single thing as bulldog Harley chowed down on his feet.

The incident helped Dave realize that his foot was completely numb. He rushed to hospital to get his toe treated and its here that doctors discovered that the dad-of-five had two blocked arteries, which is why he couldn't feel anything in his foot.

While it's not ideal to have your toe chewed down to the bone, Dave says Harley 'did [him] a favor'.

Dave ended up being in hospital for a week and was reunited with his pup afterwards.