New Orleans police responding to a tripped burglar alarm shot and killed a man’s Doberman dog in Lakeview early Monday.

A police spokesman said Dr. Patrick Coleman’s two dogs charged at the officers when they responded to the alarm and that they shot the four-year-old black Doberman named Jax to halt the threat. The officers were in Coleman’s back yard when the incident occurred. Eight shell casings were found near the scene.

Coleman said the dead dog was ‘sweet and cuddly,’ but that he also was recovering from recent surgery and unlikely to be a threat as he could barely walk and had an eight-inch incision down his neck.

“They came out saying they shot my dog, that it was him or them,” said Dr. Coleman. “My male dog had spine surgery a month ago and could barely walk. This was the third day he was out of a kennel. I was carrying him in and out to go to the bathroom and had to carry him down the stairs.”

According to Coleman, the alarm tripped when his dog went through the doggie door in the back yard. He said when he received the call from the alarm company, his dog was already dead.

“It shouldn’t be what they do,” he said. “You’re in my yard. You’ve come to a false alarm and now you’ve executed my dog who’s post-surgical and can barely walk.”