DENVER -- A man who allegedly shot and killed a small dog told police that the terrier shot itself while playing with his pistol.

Ryan Hayes was arrested last week on charges of possessing a weapon while under the influence, animal cruelty and reckless endangerment.

Lakewood police said Hayes, 49, shot the Jack Russell mix in the head.

Marlys Duggan told the Denver Post she is the owner of the dog, called Patches, and she was visiting Hayes when the dog was shot.

He is "my across-the-street neighbor. I usually go over three or four times a week to visit," Duggan told the Post.

Hayes seemed to like Patches, Duggan said. On the day of the shooting he had been drinking, she said.

Duggan said Hayes stopped at the refrigerator for another beer before going to his room with Patches in tow.

"The next thing I knew, I heard this loud explosion," Duggan said. "I thought it was a transformer blowing."

She walked into the room and found the dog's body.

"Ryan said, 'I didn't do it. The gun was on the floor, he was playing with it,'" Duggan told the Post.

A veterinarian told Duggan that the injury could not have been self-inflicted. That's when she called police.

"[The vet] showed me the body of the dog and stated the gunshot would appear to have entered the right side of the dog's face in a downward motion, tearing through its jaw. It had been shot through the head from above," a police report of the incident stated.

When police questioned Hayes, he admitted he shot the dog and claimed it was all an accident, police said.

"Hayes stated he picked the gun up and 'palmed it,' with his finger on the trigger. Mr. Hayes said he then turned to his right and the gun went off, which is how the dog got shot," according to the report.

Duggan told the Post she will probably get another dog eventually.

"I still can't believe this would ever happen to a dog of mine," she told the Post. "Ryan totally betrayed the trust my dog had in him."