HAYDEN - Rosie was the kind of dog every neighbor would love, said Debbie Dylina.

Quiet, affectionate, gentle. The black lab and heeler mix was known and doted on by many who lived nearby, Dylina said.

That's why the Hayden woman was bewildered as to who could have shot into her backyard last week, leaving a pellet lodged in Rosie's stomach that infected her insides and took her for good from her owner of 11 years on Monday.

"It's still beyond my comprehension that anyone can even do this," Dylina said through tears on Monday. "It makes me fearful for anyone whose pets are outside, but what can you do? You can't be in fear every day."

Dylina had known something was wrong last Monday, she said, when she arrived home from work and called for Rosie to come inside from the backyard.

But Rosie didn't come. And Dylina found her doghouse empty.

"I thought, 'This is weird. It's pouring down rain, and she does not like water,'" she recalled.

She found Rosie lying on her side in the yard, soaked. Late for an appointment, Dylina brought the dog inside, made her comfortable and left with her 17-year-old son.

When they returned that evening, they spotted blood on the floor.

"I thought, 'Oh my God, she has an injury,' and the vets had already closed that day," she said, adding that she thought Rosie had poked against something. "I would never have imagined anything like this ever happening."

A visit to Prairie Animal Hospital on Tuesday confirmed there was a pellet inside Rosie's stomach.

"You could see it in the X-ray," Dylina said.

She later learned through her neighborhood watch that a pellet had also been shot through a neighbor's bathroom window.

Although Dylina has filed a report with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department and called her neighbors, she said, no one has reported seeing or hearing anything.

"If no one has seen anything, what can you do?" she said.

Karen Williams, Kootenai County animal control officer, said county law enforcement does see animals shot by pellet guns every now and then.

"I truly don't know if it's neighbors upset about something or kids playing," Williams said. "Lots of them, we don't ever resolve the issues, because there's no way of knowing who's done it unless someone's seen it."

She didn't know if there was any more hope of catching the culprit in this situation.

Williams recommended folks leave their animals inside, but she acknowledged that isn't possible for everyone.

"I personally can't fathom someone doing that to animals," she said.

Despite the veterinarian's optimism that Rosie's body could heal around the pellet, the dog grew weaker as days passed, Dylina said, and barely ate.

It was difficult to bear, Dylina said.

"It's a horrible way to spend time with your pet, when they don't feel good," she said. "She would look at me with those eyes, like, 'Mom, just please make it go away.'"

When Rosie was brought back to Prairie on Monday, an exploratory surgery revealed that 30 percent of her intestines had died, and her spleen was damaged.

Nothing could be done.

"The best thing was to let her go," said Dylina, who received the call from the veterinarian while she was at work in Spokane.

She was devastated to lose Rosie, she said. The dog was "like a family member," she said.

Besides that, Dylina, a single mother who doesn't receive child support, knew she couldn't afford the $1,000 exploratory surgery on Monday, on top of the $600 in medical costs from last week.

She had just wanted her dog to be OK, she said, regardless of cost.

"She's always been so loyal and devoted," Dylina said.

She said she would welcome help from anyone to cover the bills. Her email is djdylina@gmail.com.

The cost is shadowed by the loss of Rosie, Dylina said.

She doesn't plan to get another dog.

"I'm not ready for that," she said.