ELYRIA, OH (AP) – The wife of a man charged with fatally shooting his neighbor’s dog says her husband was simply trying to protect their own puppy.

Twenty-eight-year-old Elyria resident Timothy Kilgore pleaded not guilty Tuesday to animal cruelty.

His wife says the neighbor’s dog had stuck its head through a fence Monday and was attacking the Kilgore’s puppy.

Kristen Kilgore tells WEWS-TV that she was unable to get the puppy free so her husband grabbed a shotgun and shot the neighbor’s dog once.

Neighbor Vicki Galloway called the shooting an overreaction.

A police report says there was an ongoing dispute between the neighbors about their dogs.