When Nicole Inkster looked into her backyard in Clanwilliam, Man., last Wednesday, she didn't see her dogs and knew something wasn't right.

Two of the family's three dogs were nowhere to be found, and the backyard was a mess. A search soon started, as it is unlike her dogs to be away from home.

After days of looking, she, her husband and the couple's three kids found one of the dogs, a four-year-old Norwegian Elkhound Husky Cross named Duke, severely injured in a ditch about a kilometre from the small village, located about 200 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

Nicole Inkster says she believes her dogs were targeted and the incident has left her family heartbroken. (Riley Laychuk/CBC)

Dutchess, a four-year-old Norwegian Elkhound Border Collie Cross, was found dead not long after. A necropsy will be perfromed on her body by a vet in Winnipeg.

"My heart just broke," Inkster told CBC News Tuesday. "I was angry, I was sad, I was upset."

Duke fighting for life

Duke, still fighting for his life, was rushed to a vet in Brandon, Man., where he had surgery to remove a protruding eye. He had a number of other injuries and is still at risk of losing a leg, Inkster said.

"As soon as we found them, we wanted to go and find the person that did it, you know?" she said.

Inskter isn't sure where her dogs spent the four days they were missing or how they were injured, but believes they were targeted and beaten. The family has reported the incident to the RCMP.

Nicole Inkster's dog, Duke, had surgery to remove a protruding eye on Tuesday. (Supplied )

The family's third dog, Pepper, wasn't injured but her dog house was knocked over and a week later, she is still frightened.

Inkster said the incident has left people in the small village looking for answers and wondering who would want to hurt an animal. So are her three kids, aged seven, eight and 12.

"We're such a small community, and we're tight," Inkster said. "It scares everybody."

RCMP confirm they are investigating the dogs' disappearance and damage that was done to the dog kennels and the family's property last Wednesday.

Nicole Inkster's dog Duke rests at a vet clinic in Brandon, Man., after surgery. (Supplied )

"I don't even want to let my kids play outside anymore due to the amount of damage that we've been dealing with," Inkster said.

Mounting vet bills have prompted Inkster to start a GoFundMe campaign with the hope of grabbing the attention of close friends and family to help with costs that could go as high as $5,000.

She said though that since news of the attack surfaced, strangers and others have donated thousands of dollars to the family.

"I'm so overwhelmed. I don't even know how to even say thank you," she said. "I can't say thanks enough to everyone that's been helping."

"You don't expect complete strangers to go out of the way and give the amount they give."

'How do you live with yourself?'

Inkster said any extra money will be donated back to local animal rescues to help more animals locally. She has a message for whoever hurt her dogs, who are considered family.

"How do you live with yourself?" she said. "How could you do something like that to an animal who can't even properly defend themselves? What if this was your kid?"

Inkster hopes Duke can come home in a few days time to finish his recovery after a surgery on Tuesday. Dutchess will be cremated.

RCMP are asking anyone with information on what happened to the dogs to give investigators a call at 204-867-2919 or Crime Stoppers.