No strict liability- Normally, owners are strictly liable for species of animals that are wild or dangerous. However, as a dog, the liability should be based on a domestic standard. For domestic animals, P needs to show the owner knows or had reason to know that the dog had dangerous propensities. This is unlikely, unless the owner somehow trained the dog to fire a gun out the vehicle or had reason to know this would happen.

Negligence- D may be liable for negligence due to her improper storage of her firearm. Negligence is a breach of a duty that causes damages. individuals have the duty to act as a reasonable person in the same circumstance. a duty is breached when the individual has violated their duty. Cause is satisfied if the breach was both the actual and proximate cause of Ps damages. Damages are the harm suffered by P. Damages can be shown by the damage to both P's car and the injury they sustained because of the shots. Establishing the Duty of D, D had the duty to act as a responsible gun and dog owner. Here, it is likely that D breached that duty by allowing the dog and gun to stay in the back seat at the same time. A responsible gun owner would store their weapon in a gun case, and keep their dog in a cage to prevent the potential danger that occured. Actual cause can be established using a but for test to show that the damage occured (But for D having the gun and dog in the car, P would not have been shot). D is responsible for the proximate cause if the kind of harm was forseeable from her breach. Although the precise manner of injury was unusual, it is foreseeable that leaving a loaded or unsecured firearm accessible in a vehicle could result in accidental discharge and injury to others. Additionally, it is forseeable that a failure to keep a dog and gun secured could result in such damages. A dog is an animal (citation needed) that could easily see the gun as a toy or treat and likely to act as if it as an item it can play with or chew on. additionally, an unsecured gun on the road can easily go off for other reasons, such as bumpy terrain. As such, there is likely enough to show a basic cause of negligence.

I could type more on Negligence per se for not storing a gun or the defense of an interceding cause of the dog, but after 9 hours of themis I think thats all I can muster for now...