Shelby, a two-year-old shepherd-husky mix, was shot with an arrow by an unknown assailant. (Supplied photo)

When Megan Blais, 19, finished tending to the horses on her family's farm Saturday morning, she didn't expect to find her dog, Shelby, labouring in pain with a bloody wound.

"When I got to the house, I noticed she was just seeping blood everywhere," Blais said. "I brought her in the house and she had two-inch gaping holes on either side of her."

Blais' parents own a small hobby farm. They have six acres of land, but their four dogs are allowed to play on their neighbours' 160-acre property.