When a dog goes missing, that is an owner’s worst nightmare. When the dog is found four days later with a bullet hole in her head, you have to ask: What’s worse than a nightmare? That’s the situation that the owners of a 9-month-old Great Pyrenees named Nylah found themselves in when they recovered their dog. Except, at first, they assumed the wound on her was from a dog bite, but when they took her to Country Pet Hospital in Alpine, Calif., they were told it was something far worse. Chamkaur S. Brar, DVM, owner of County Pet Hospital, looked over Nylah and immediately suspected it was a gunshot wound. However, the owners didn’t believe him at first — until he showed them the X-rays. They determined that Nylah had been shot in the back of the head, with the bullet exiting out the front. Luckily, the bullet didn’t go into her brain due to the angle it entered. “The dog was lucky,” Dr. Brar said in an interview with Veterinary Practice News. “The bullet fractured her skull, and it was just a few millimeters away from the brain.” Nylah underwent surgery to remove bullet fragments from her head, and was left with a large hole in her sinus cavity. Amazingly, however, she was able to go home the next day, and there have been no reports of further problems. Brar has yet to do a follow-up appointment with Nylah’s owners to check for any signs of infection in the wound. A GoFundMe page was started by a friend of Nylah’s owners to pay for the costs of the surgery. Any remaining money will be used as a reward for information that could lead to the arrest of the person that shot her.
