Primer the dog was shot with pellets in the eye and surrounding head area.
"I thought he had been hit by a car but when I took him to the vet they found hundreds of little pellets in his face. They couldn't get them all out - they were so deeply embedded.
"They found three pellets in his eyeball and said the flesh around his eye is basically minced meat."
She said she was unaware of the severity of the eye injury at first because Primer's face was badly swollen.
Short of cash, she waited until Monday when she could afford to take him to the vet where an abscess was drained.
She posted a picture of her 18-month-old dog's injury on Facebook, which was met with both outrage and offers of help.
Friends Cassandra Lee and Rosanagh Wypych, a 2011 Next Top Model finalist, saw the post and started an online Give a Little fundraising page to raise the $500 needed to remove Primer's eye.
They donated themselves but closed the page after an online offer from Renee Langley to pay the money directly to the vet.
"I appreciate that, I really do, but I can't take that amount of money off you," Ms Kupa replied.
"If you would like to donate there's a Give a Little page I have posted. But please, not that much."
Ms Langley replied saying Give a Little would not be able to release the funds before the operation was needed.
"I had some luck, just paying it forward," she said.
The offer was accepted and the $135 already raised would be returned.
The donated $500 would include Primer's operation to remove his pellet-laden eye, once the abscess heals, plus a castration.
The castration would "probably help to calm him down a bit".
"I wasn't the best owner, with a baby and stuff, but I do love him," said Ms Kupa.
"He is usually just so full of energy, but now he just stands in the middle of the room with his head down."
She said she did not report her registered and microchipped dog missing to Hastings District Council's animal control unit because she always felt its return was imminent.
She reported the matter to police and said the injury was likely inflicted by a Flaxmere resident. She doubted the injury was inflicted by someone protecting grazing sheep, a recurring problem in the area, saying it was "too far" for her dog to travel.
Napier SPCA manager Bruce Wills said people had the right to shoot dogs worrying sheep but would not comment if a shotgun was an appropriate weapon.
