I Hit a Dog

The title kind of says it all, doesn't it? 30 years old and I have never hit a thing, except maybe a bird once or twice.

People tried to comfort me by saying they've hit skunks or squirrels etc, but this was somebody's pet. Granted, they were out loose and running around carefree in the middle of traffic, but still.

The sun was in my eyes and before I knew it or could even react, I'd hit something. In a split second, I saw a flash of a black dog run out into the street and then disappear back into the neighborhood and I realized that I must have hit his companion. The horrible part was when I was trying to get into the other lane and pull over, I actually ran over it in the process. I pulled off onto a side street and there he was, in the slow lane, not moving. It looked like a brown lab/pit bull mix, maybe, with slightly longer hair. I was shaking, but not panicking. I walked over to him and traffic was going around him. 19th is a busy street and I was a bit worried about him getting run over again.

He was breathing, but barely. He wasn't bleeding anywhere but his eyes were glossy and he was obviously in pain. Unsure who to call, I just dialed 911. They got all of my information, but during the call, the dog had died. He wasn't wearing any tags, but he was wearing something over his neck that looked kind of like this:

Only much more old-school. The lady on 911 told me that it might be an invisible fence collar, which was extremely unfortunate because it had obviously failed to work right, and now the dog was dead because of it.

They promised to call Animal Control and told me not to remove him from the street. But then a car stopped and honked at me; told me to move the dog otherwise people were going to run over him again. I tried, but he was probably 80 lbs and I couldn't get him over the curb. The lady looked at me like I was just being lazy, but it's not like she offered to help. A guy crossing the street picked up the dog for me and put him off to the side and the 911 lady and told me that I didn't have to wait there any longer so I didn't.

I felt guilty for leaving, but there wasn't anything else that I could do. His black lab buddy was still running loose out there somewhere and I hoped he'd be all right. There was also some slight damage to my car but not worth calling my insurance company over. 

Now I get to pass that spot every day and think about the life I ended. It's not an easy thing to get over. I just hope the family secures that other dog so he remains safe.