FREELAND — Maybelline is feeling a little better, no thanks to the person who shot her with a .22.

The 2-year-old Cardigan Welsh Corgi work dog rested at home with her family along East Harbor Road in Freeland this week after being bushwhacked in her own yard the morning of Thursday, Aug. 7.

On Monday, another South End dog was shot with a .22, this one on a 40-acre farm along Glendale Road between Holts Road and Jewett Road near Clinton.

In Freeland, Celia Procopio, 18, said she was home alone shortly after 8 a.m., getting ready for work after letting Maybelline and Maybelline’s mother, Della, outside as usual on their 12-acre property. She heard a shot, then a dog’s cries.

She found Maybelline lying injured in the grass about 50 yards from the house.

“I thought she had fallen,” Procopio said. “I didn’t see the wound, just that she couldn’t walk.”

When she learned what really happened, “I started crying. I’m mad, upset, confused. She’s just about the kindest, most gentle dog you’ll ever meet.”

She called her mother, Camille LaTray, who was in Oregon with her husband, Brad Rice, a wooden-boat builder, and it was decided to call a neighbor to take Maybelline to the Useless Bay Animal Clinic.

The dog had been shot in the right rear thigh with a .22-caliber target bullet that somehow managed to miss hitting bone or vital organs, but did graze her liver and kidney, causing minor damage, Rice said.

Her prognosis is still wait-and-see, he added, but a visit to the veterinarian on Monday showed that her temperature was normal; a good sign.

Who shot Maybelline? Rice and his stepson Camren Procopio, county Animal Control officer Carol Barnes, and sheriff’s deputies looked around and talked with neighbors, but discovered no clues.

Rice said it may have been a stray shot, or worse, a deliberate act.

He said shooting a .22 is legal, but there has to be some kind of backstop to avoid bullets flying in all directions.

“If someone meant to shoot Maybelline, then shame on them,” said his wife, adding, “People need to remember that whenever they shoot, every single bullet ends up somewhere.”

LaTray and Rice said their biggest concern is that someone was shooting near their house, where their two younger children, Rowan, 9, and Fiona, 7, are constantly at play.

LaTray said Maybelline has accumulated a substantial medical tab, with more treatment in her future.

“I just want her to get better,” she said. “The vet said she’s doing amazingly well. She’s tough.

“We’re crossing our fingers that she’s going to be able to walk normally,” LaTray said. “We’re waiting for her to wag her tail again.”

The second shooting happened Monday about noon, said Sally Anne Sadler, whose 40-pound black-and-tan spaniel mutt Thomas was hit in the left shoulder.

The .22 round shattered the bone and exploded in the muscle, she said.

Sadler said her friends and owners of the property heard several shots, and Thomas came limping home. She said Thomas requires expensive surgery, and if he doesn’t get it, his leg may have to be amputated.

“Somebody was obviously trying to shoot him.” Sadler said. “He’s the sweetest thing. He won’t even kill a chicken.”

She said Thomas is coping well, but she’s angry — and worried.

“I have a 9-year-old daughter,” she said. “I don’t want to let her out of the house.”

Island County Deputy Sheriff Darren Crownover said the only similarities so far in the two shootings are that both bullets seem to be the same.

“We’re just waiting, and hope the neighbors may have seen something,” he said Thursday. “We really need witnesses to come forward.”

Barnes emphasized that it’s not OK to shoot at pets.

“People need to know that there’s a consequence,” she said.

Shooting at pets is a first-degree felony that can involve fines, jail time or both, she said.

Anyone with information can contact the county dispatch center at 321-4400.

Roy Jacobson can be reached at 221-5300 or rjacobson@southwhidbeyrecord.com.

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