An 18-month-old English pointer-Labrador mix that was in training to be a cadaver-finding dog was shot dead by a Homer-area man who claimed it tried to attack him, reports the Homer Tribune. Troopers say the man won't be charged with any crime because there's no evidence his self-defense claim is untrue.

The trouble started when the dog didn't come home after being let outside to relieve himself, owner Gari Sisk told the Tribune.

I ... started knocking on doors at my neighbors. I went to everybody's house and I thought this is weird," Sisk said. One neighbor was left, a man who neighbors say has been a source of tension.

"My dog had a little cut on his foot, and so I tracked a little blood trail and it went right to his driveway. I went to his door, and he told me if I didn't get off his property he was going to kill me," she said. ...

Troopers said the man's story was that he saw the dog when his motion-sensor light went on. He said the dog had a rabbit in its mouth, and it tried to attack him. So he shot it.

Read more at the Homer Tribune.