Chicago, IL -- These really are the dog days of summer for the mutt who stars in the upcoming movie, "Benji Off the Leash."

The three-year-old female pup is undergoing emergency eye surgery this morning (Aug. 3) to repair a detached retina which is the result of complications from a recent cataract operation.

Producer Joe Camp -- who adopted the gender-bending Benji from a Mississippi animal shelter -- first noticed the trouble in mid-June when the dog kept scratching her eye.

Benji will go under the knife for her latest surgery between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. Central time today at the Eye Care For Animals clinic in suburban Chicago.

The operation has an 85 percent success rate but there is also a chance Benji could go blind in the affected eye.

A spokesperson says the unexpected health crisis will have no affect on the release of the film, which will hit U.S. theaters August 20.

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