Dog shoots man in buttocks
In a bizarre incident, a Brigham City man was shot in the buttocks by his best friend -- his pet dog -- during a duck hunting trip.
The 46 year-old, who has not been named, was hit just a few feet away from his "excited" pet which had stepped on a shotgun in his boat.
Though he escaped serious injuries, the incident forced him to seek emergency help and rush to a hospital where medics removed 27 pellets of birdshot, Salt Lake City-based Deseret News reported.
Box Elder County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Kevin Potter said the man, his dog and another friend were on duck hunting at the weekend on the north end of the Great Salt Lake near the bird refuge, about 10 miles west of Brigham City in Utah.
The two had their canoe-like boat in a shallow marsh area. When the man got out of the boat to either set up or collect decoys, he laid his 12-gauge shotgun across the bow of the boat, Potter said.
After the man got out of the boat, a dog inside the vessel jumped up on the bow and stepped on the gun causing it to fire and shot the man in the buttocks.
"It (The dog) did something to make the gun discharge," Potter said. "I don't know if the safety device was on. It's not impossible the dog could have taken it off safety."
The men called 911 and walked to the main road to wait for emergency crews. The fact the man was wearing waders likely helped prevent a more serious injury, Potter said.
The gun was fired from approximately 10 feet away, he said, adding that he did not have information on the type of dog that stepped on the shotgun.
Neither the dog, which has not been identified, nor any ducks within range at the time of the accident, were injured.
