Dog shoots man in backside

A Northland man has good cause to question whether his dog truly is his best friend after the canine leapt on to a loaded rifle and accidentally shot him in the backside in a freak, but potentially fatal, accident.

Police believe the dog may have accidentally stepped on the trigger of the .22 rifle involved in the shooting of a 40-year-old Te Kopuru man on Saturday afternoon.

The man, a back seat passenger in a 4WD, was shot in the buttocks when the dog jumped on to the loaded gun on the vehicle's back seat, at a Te Kopuru property, about 13km south-east of Dargaville. MORE>>