‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ Star’s Daughter-in-Law Jamie Chapman ‘Heartbroken’ After Dog Kona Has Leg Amputated

Dog the Bounty Hunter stars Jamie Pilar Chapman and Leland Chapman had quite the scare with their Belgian Malinois Kona when their “baby boy” had to undergo surgery to remove one of his legs following a devastating injury last month. Jamie detailed the family’s difficult time on Facebook Wednesday, saying the trouble first started when Kona began limping.

The couple first thought the pup had sprained something and decided to stop playing fetch with him in the backyard to give him the chance to heal. Things took a turn for the worse, however, when Leland “forgot” about the dog’s injury and threw the ball for him.

“I went to work and I received a phone call of Leland screaming like he was in pain,” Jamie recalled. “He tells me he forgot that Kona was still limping, and he threw the ball outside. That Kona chased it and broke his leg between his shoulder and elbow.” When they made it to the vet, the doctor said it was a “clean break,” and that with a rod put in via surgery, there would be a full recovery.

“For the first week was rough so he didn’t move around too much,” Jamie continued. “His arm was really swollen and they were worried they’d have to amputate because of lack of blood circulation to his main nerve.” While she remembered begging for the vet to “give him a little more time” to see if the swelling went down and for circulation to improve, it was determined that Kona had irreversibly ruptured his radial nerve.

“The only option left was to amputate,” Jamie wrote. “They advised us he will live a happy life with 3 legs and out run any 4 legged dog and not even know the difference.” While the vet was “heartbroken” that things took a left turn for Kona due to the surgery’s initial success, they knew it was the best option for the dog.

“So as of last week, he now has 3 legs. It breaks my heart he has had to go through this at 2 years old. I love my dogs like they are my children,” Jamie wrote, adding that regardless of how many legs he had, the dog would be “taken care of, spoiled and loved all the same because our love for him will never change.” Best of luck to Kona on his recovery!