An American dog owner was shot by his pet after it jumped on his bed and set off a loaded gun.

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

According to a police incident report, the dog, a one-year-old pit bull named Oreo, was said to have got its paw stuck in the trigger guard and accidentally pulled the trigger.

However, the police did not specify the type of weapon fired and recorded the incident as an accidental injury.

While gun violence is prolific in the United States, cases of animals shooting humans are said to be rare.

Two years ago, a German Shepherd shot and killed a 30-year-old man in Kansas after stepping on a hunting rifle. Similarly, in 2018, a 51-year-old man from Iowa was shot in the leg by his pit bull-Labrador mix.