(KLFY) -- A local dog is now in recovery after doctors say he was shot in the face on Wednesday. Little "Boomer" is only 12 weeks old.

Dr. Melissa Blazevich, a dental surgeon at South Paws Dentistry in Mandeville, said they received a call from Mardi Paws, a dog rescue group on Wednesday, that Little Boomer was shot in the face in Lafayette.

The puppy was shot underneath his left eye, where the bullet would travel through his jaw, and into his neck. Blazevich said Boomer was brought to South Paws Dentistry where doctors discovered the bullet shattered his jaw and broke some of his teeth.

"The bullet transferred basically from in through his sort of nasal passage or maxilla, so upper jaw, down to the bottom jaw and fractured both of that, then the bullet lodged into his neck," Blazevich said.

Blazevich said Boomer was rushed into surgery late Wednesday where it took doctors two hours to remove the bullet. She said they pulled out 48 bone fragments from his jaw and put buttons on it to stabilize it. He said Boomer is now expected to make a full recovery.

"He is doing absolutely fantastic, he's eating on his own, which he wasn't doing that before presentation to me, he's definitely less swollen, he wants to get up, he wants to be a typical puppy and play," Blazevich said.

Blazevich sends a message to pet owners to get their dogs microchipped just in case they go missing.

"We're going to be in a time frame where, the new year is coming up, a lot of people have high anxiety dogs, make sure they're checked before the fireworks start and making sure they're labeled and microchipped so that if and when something does happen, they can be identified and returned appropriately," Blazevich said.

Blazevich said once Boomer is medically cleared, he will be put up for adoption.

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