Police dog accidentally fires gun as officers investigate car park fight

'The dog was quite happy to continue to go to work'

The dog uncovered a handgun in a bushy areas while tracking suspects (Wiki Commons)

A police dog in Canada accidentally fired a handgun when its handlers were investigation a fight outside a shop.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were called to a supermarket in Chestermere, Alberta, when witnessed reported two men assaulting another man with a handgun.

The police dog was tracking the suspects who had fled the scene when it uncovered a gun in a bushy area near the store.

Officers said the dog fired one shot, but neither the animal nor officers were injured.

In a news release, police said “the trigger was activated and a shot was fired from the handgun” but no other people were in the area at the time.

“That’s one of the things that our dogs are trained to do, is find evidence,” said Corporal Curtis Peters, a communications officer for the RCMP, told CTV News.

“The dog is fine. It’s trained to respond and do its job even in the presence of gunfire, so the dog was quite happy to continue to go to work, as was the handler.”

The victim of the assault was later taken to hospital with minor injuries but was later released.