South African artist and musician Vernon Swart was understandably skeptical when he received a call from a neighbor telling him to come quickly because his dog was “running about in the street with a knife in her head”.

Unfortunately, his neighbor was right. Swart says reality sunk in when he looked outside and saw police approaching with guns drawn. Fortunately for them, German Shepherd and terrier cross, Bella, had already chased the bad guys away – with the knife they used to stab her still sticking out of her head.

Neighbors had called police to report trespassers on their property: it’s apparent that Bella met them in her yard and stopped them before they had a chance to break into her home, but not before the thugs stabbed her between the eyes with an eight inch knife.

Swart and his wife rushed Bella to a local veterinary clinic. After anesthetizing her, a vet was forced to hold her head against his knee to pull the deeply lodged knife out of Bella’s skull. The vet said he had no idea how Bella had survived. Remarkably, the blade just missed her brain, and only a few stitches were required to get her back on her feet and on her way home.

Police have taken the knife as evidence and are dusting it for prints. Bella received a big reward when she returned to the home that she had so valiantly protected. Swart’s wife, Ingrid, cooked her big steak fillet to celebrate her homecoming and her bravery. “She was still under sedation and was a bit groggy when she ate it.”

Swart said he would have been devastated to lose Bella, and only wishes that she had a chance to meet her attackers one last time. “I’ve told the police that if they find the guys who did this we’d like to leave them alone in a room for a few minutes with Bella, and she’d quickly get her revenge.”