Trigger the Chocolate Lab Shoots Hunting Dog Mom in Foot

A 10-year-old Chocolate Lab from Indiana couldn’t possibly have a more appropriate name.

On a hunting trip Saturday with his dog mom, Allie Carter, the Lab stepped on a shotgun, pressing the trigger and shooting Carter in the foot.

The dog’s name? That’s right, Trigger.

As Carter was hunting waterfowl in the Tri-County Fish and Wildlife Area, she set a 12-gauge shotgun on the ground with its safety off, WANE reports.

It could have been much worse. Carter was taken to a local hospital and treated for a gunshot wound to her left foot and toes.

Carter, who is 25, apparently did not take the free hunter education course that is required of anyone applying for a hunting license in Indiana who born after Dec. 31, 1986, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources reported in a press release.

Conservation officers remind everyone that accidents like this do happen — even accidents caused by dogs who aren’t “ironically and aptly named Trigger.” To prevent them, they said to always point the muzzle of a firearm in a safe direction and use the safety mechanism.

Another way to prevent them might be by taking up a safer hobby for you and your dog.

Photo credit: Steven Jackson (This “Smilin’ Pup” is not Trigger.)