So what happened?

“My dog shot me,” Remme said.

Police and the UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center ambulance were called to Remme’s home at about 10:50 a.m., according to the Fort Dodge Police Department.

“I carry. It’s a Ruger 9 mm, and it’s got a safety on it,” Remme said. “I was lying on the couch, and we were horsing around, me and the dog. And I was tossing him off my lap, and he was jumping back on my lap.

-Messenger photo by Joe Sutter
A woman runs to the ambulance where Richard Remme is being treated for a gunshot wound to his leg Wednesday afternoon at 2230 Ninth Ave. S., as Fort Dodge Police investigate. Remme said he was playing with his dog, when the dog somehow disengaged the safety and set off the handgun he had in a belly band. Remme was not seriously hurt.

“And I carry in a belly band, under my bib overalls. And apparently he bumped the safety one time, and when he bounded back over one of his toes went right down into the trigger guard.

“It has a trigger safety as well as a thumb safety, and he managed to hit both of them, and it discharged and went into my leg, did no major damage to anything.”

Fort Dodge Police Chief Roger Porter told the same story. He said investigating officers found Remme was home alone, with his dog, Balew, and were told about the accidental discharge.

“He has a license to carry, and a license for the gun,” Porter said.

It was a freak thing, Porter said.

“I’ve never heard of that,” he said. “I’ve heard of guns dropping and going off on the floor, and horsing around and guns going off. I can’t say I’ve heard a dog story before.

“Guns aren’t toys, and they can go off. All it takes is a little pressure on the hammer or the trigger to get it to go.”

Balew was upset afterwards, Remme said.

“The dog’s a big wuss,” he said. “The poor dog laid down beside me and cried, because he thought he was in trouble for doing something wrong. He’s a pit lab mix. He’s afraid of the dark, he’s afraid of water.”

Remme didn’t even feel the shot in his leg at first — he only felt a painful burn on his belly initially. Then he saw his pantleg was turning purple, he said.

“I’m looking around to see where it went to, and I realized it went in my leg. That’s when I called 911,” Remme said.

He was released from the hospital that afternoon, Remme said, and checked in with the VA.

“They want me to follow up later with a surgeon, to see if later we need to possibly look at removing the bullet.”