Memphis, Tennessee - A Tennessee dog owner was shot by his pet after it jumped on his bed and set off a loaded gun, police said Wednesday.

The man from Memphis was asleep beside his female partner when he was shot early Monday morning, escaping with a graze to his left thigh that was treated in hospital.

The dog – a year-old pit bull named Oreo – "got his paw stuck in the trigger guard and ended up hitting the trigger," a police incident report said.

It did not specify the type of weapon fired, and recorded the incident as "accidental injury."

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While gun violence is prolific in the US, cases of animals shooting humans are rare.

Two years ago, a German shepherd dog shot and killed a 30-year-old man in Kansas after it stepped on a hunting rifle.

In 2018, a 51-year-old man from Iowa was shot in the leg by his pit bull-Labrador mix.

Local news station Fox 13 Memphis cited the Tennessee victim's girlfriend, who was not named, as saying she was sleeping when the gun went off.

"The dog is a playful dog, and he likes to jump around and stuff like that, and it just went off," she reportedly said.

Her lesson from the incident: "Keep the safety on or use a trigger lock."